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M  A.  N  TJ  A.  L 


MYTHOLOGY 

GREEK  AND  ROMAN, 

NORSE,  AND  OLD  GERMAN,  HINDOO  AND 
EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


BY 

ALEXANDER  S.  MURRAY, 

DEPARTMENT  OF  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  ANTIQUITIES,  BRITISH  MUSEUM. 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  SECOND  REVISED  LONDON  EDITION. 


WITH  45  PLATES  ON  TINTED  PAPER, 

REPRESENTING  MORE  THAN  90  MYTHOLOGICAL  SUBJECTS. 


NEW  YORK: 

SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,  &  CO 


Boston: 

Press  op  E.and,  Avert,  &  Co.,  117  Franklin  Street. 


291 

M96-n 


I  V 


/  cJ 


f 

PUBLISHERS’  NOTE. 


Murray’s  Manual  of  Mythology  has  been  known  to  the 
American  public  thus  far  only  through  the  English  edition. 
As  originally  published,  the  work  was  deficient  in  its  account 
of  the  Eastern  and  Northern  Mythology;  but  with  these 
imperfections  it  secured  a  sale  in  this  country  which  proved 
that  it  more  nearly  supplied  the  want  which  had  long  been 
felt  of  a  compact  hand-book  in  this  study  than  did  any  other 
similar  work.  The  preface  to  the  second  English  edition 
indicates  the  important  additions  to,  and  changes  which  have 
"  been  made  in,  the  original  work.  Chapters  upon  the  North¬ 
ern  and  Eastern  Mythology  have  been  supplied ;  the  descrip- 
po 

tions  of  many  of  the  Greek  deities  have  been  re-written ; 
accounts  of  the  most  memorable  works  of  art,  in  which  each 
deity  is  or  was  represented,  have  been  added  ;  and  a  number 


m 


iv  .  publishers’  note. 

of  new  illustrations  have  been  inserted.  This  American 
edition  has  been  reprinted  from  the  perfected  work.  Every 
illustration  given  in  the  original  has  been  carefully  repro¬ 
duced  ;  and  the  new  chapters  upon  Eastern  and  Northern 
Mythology  have  been  thoroughly  revised  by  Prof.  W.  D. 
Whitney,  of  Yale  College,  who  has  corrected  some  minor 
inaccuracies  which  had  escaped  observation  in  the  English 
edition.  The  volume  in  its  revised  form  is  without  a  rival 
among  manuals  upon  this  interesting  subject.  For  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  a  text-book  in  high  schools  and  colleges,  and  a  guide 
to  the  art  student  or  general  reader,  it  will  be  found  invalu¬ 


able. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction  . ' . 

Greek  and  Roman  Mythology — 

The  Creation  of  the  World  .  .  . 

Deities  of  the  Highest  Order 
Inferior  Deities  .  .  .  .  , 

Demigods  or  Heroes  .... 

Norse  and  Old  German  Mythology 

Mythology  and  Religion  of  the  Hindoos — 

The  Vedic  Gods  ..... 

The  Brahmanic  Gods  0  „  *  • 

Mythology  and  Religion  of  Egypt 


PAGE 

.  I 

.  22 
.  26 
.  I29 

.  .  200 

•  309 

.  328 

•  337 

.  34i 


Index 


VII 


353 


- 


■ 

- 


' 

» 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


Amazon:  xxxiii.,  268. 
Andromeda:  xxxii.,  216. 
Aphrodite  (Venus)  :  viii.,  ix., 
xxviii.,  77,  83,  168. 
Apollo:  xi.,  88,  96. 

Ares  (Mars):  viii.,  xxviii., 
l68- 

Ariadne:  xvi.,  120. 

Artemis  (Diana):  xiv.,  109. 
Asklepios  (  yEsculapius  )  : 
xxxi.,  178. 

Athene  (Minerva)  :  xi.,  xii., 
88,  96. 

Aurora.  See  Eos. 

Bacchus.  See  Dionysos. 
Bellerophon  :  xxxii . ,  221. 
Brahma,  with  Saraswati  : 
xlii.,  337- 

Ceres.  See  Demeter. 
Chloris  (Flora);  xxi.,  165. 


Cupid.  See  Eros. 

Demeter  (Ceres):  vi.,  57. 
Diana  of  Ephesus  :  xv.,  115. 
Dionysos  (Bacchus):  xiv., 

117. 

Dioskuri:  xxxiii.,  286. 

Eos  (Aurora):  xxvii.,  167. 
Erato:  xiv.,  161. 

Erinys:  xxix.,  189. 

Eros  (Cupid):  xxviii.,  xxix., 

168,  173. 

Euterpe:  xxiv.,  160. 
Fenris:  xl.,  320. 

Flora.  See  Chloris. 
Fortuna.  See  Tyche. 
Freija:  xxxvii.,  314. 

Freyr:  xxxix.,  317. 

Frigg:  xxxvi.,  314. 
Ganymedes:  xxviii.,  178. 
Hades.  See  Pluto. 


ix 


X 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


Hebe:  xxvi.,  176. 

Hecate:  vii.,  70. 

Helios  (Sol):  xi.,  96. 
Heph^estos  (Vulcan)  :  viii., 
x.,  79,  125. 

Hera  (Juno):  iv.,v.,46,  50. 
Herakles  (Hercules)  :  xxx., 
245- 

Hermes  (Mercury)  :  x.,  xvii., 

121,  134- 

Hestia  (Vesta)  :  vi.,  71. 
Hor^e:  xxv.,  xxxi.,  129,  184. 
Hygiea:  xxxi.,  181. 

Hymen:  xxvi.,  172. 

Indra:  xli.,  329. 

Iris:  xxvi.,  162. 

Isis:  xlv.,  350. 

Janus:  xvii.,  132. 

Juno.  See  Hera. 

Jupiter.  See  Zeus/ 
Kalliope:  xxiii.,  160. 
Kamadeva:  xliii. ,  339. 

Klio  :  xxii.,  159. 

Kronos:  i.,  29. 

Kuretes:  vii.,  29,  34. 
Laokoon  :  xxxiv.,  299. 
Latona.  See  Leto. 

Leto  (Latona)  :  xviii.,  100. 
Mars.  See  Ares. 

Meleagros  :  xxxiii.,  269. 
Melpomene:  xxii.,  159. 


Mercury.  See  Hermes. 
Minerva.  See  Athene. 
Muses,  Mother  of:  xxiii., 
161. 

Neptune.  See  Poseidon. 
Nike  (Victoria)  :  xxx.,  183. 
Nile  god:  xliv.,  348. 

Niobe:  xiii. ,  100. 

Odin:  xxxv.,  313. 
v0Xo[it:o^.  Frontispiece. 
Osiris:  xliv.,  347. 

Pan:  xix.,  136. 

Pegasos:  xxi.,  155. 
Perseus:  xxxi.,  xxxii.,  192, 
216. 

Pluto:  vi.,  56. 

Polyhymnia:  xxiv.,  i6c^ 
Poseidon  (Neptune)  :  v.,  50. 
Proserpina:  vi.,  63. 
Psyche:  xxviii.,  xxix.,  170, 
171- 

Rhea:  i.,  ii.,  29,  33. 

Satyr:  xix.,  141. 

Serapis  :  xlv.,  350. 

Siren:  xx.,  149. 

Siva:  xliii.,  338. 

Sol.  See  Helios. 
Terpsichore:  xxv.,  161. 
Thalia:  xxii.,  159. 

Themis:  xviii.,  127. 
Theseus:  xxxiv.,  265. 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


XI 


Thor:  xxxviii.,  315. 
Trimurti  (Hindoo  Trinity): 
xli.,  336. 

Tritons:  xx.,  148. 
Tyche(Fortuna)  :  xxi.,  182. 
Urania:  xxiv.,  160. 

Venus.  See  Aphrodite. 


Vesta.  See  Hestia. 
Victoria.  See  Nike. 
Vishnu:  xlii.,  338. 
Vulcan.  See  Heph^estos. 
Zeus  (Jupiter):  ii.?  iii.,  35 
45* 


INTRODUCTION. 


THERE  is  a  charm  in  the  name  of  ancient  Greece;  there 
is  glory  in  every  page  of  her  history;  there  is  a  fas¬ 
cination  in  the  remains  of  her  literature,  and  a  sense  of  un¬ 
approachable  beauty  in  her  works  of  art ;  there  is  a  spell  in 
her  climate  still,  and  a  strange  attraction  in  her  ruins.  We 
are  familiar  with  the  praises  of  her  beautiful  islands ;  our  poets 
sing  of  her  lovely  genial  sky.  There  is  not  in  all  the  land  a 
mountain,  plain,  or  river,  nor  a  fountain,  grove,  or  wood,  that 
is  not  hallowed  by  some  legend  or  poetic  tale.  The  names  of 
her  artists,  Pheidias,  Praxiteles,  Apelles,  and  Zeuxis;  of  her 
poets,  Homer,  Pindar,  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles,  Euripides;  of  her 
philosophers,  Socrates,  Plato,  Epicurus;  the  names  of  her 
statesmen  and  orators,  Pericles  and  Demosthenes ;  of  her  his¬ 
torians,  Herodotus,  Thucydides,  and  Xenophon ;  of  her  ma¬ 
thematicians,  Archimedes  and  Euclid,  are  familiar  to  us  as 
household  words.  kWe  look  back  over  a  period  of  more  than 
two  thousand  years  with  feelings  of  wonder  at  her  achieve¬ 
ments  on  the  battle-field  and  in  the  arts  of  peace.  We  emu¬ 
late  her  in  many  ways,  but  always  confess  to  failure;  and  when 
we  have  no  desire  of  emulation,  we  are  still  ready  in  most 
cases  to  admire. 

How  far  we  may  find  just  cause  for  admiration  or  the  con¬ 
trary  with  regard  to  her  religion  remains  to  be  seen.  But 

i 


2 


INTRODUCTION. 


whichever  way  it  be,  we  shall  at  any  rate  find  abundant  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  intense  hold  it  had  upon  the  great  mass  of  the 
people,  and  of  the  important  influence  it  was  calculated  to 
exercise  on  their  civilization.  For  it  was  in  the  firm  belief  of 
his  interests  being  the  special  care  of  a  deity  that  the  husband¬ 
man  sowed  his  seed,  and  watched  the  vicissitudes  of  its  growth ; 
that  the  sailor  and  trader  entrusted  life  and  property  to  the 
capricious  sea.  The  mechanic  traced  the  skill  and  handicraft 
which  grew  unconsciously  upon  him  by  practice  to  the  direct 
influence  of  a  god.  Artists  ascribed  the  mysterious  evolution 
of  their  ideas,  and  poets  the  inspiration  of  their  song,  to  the 
same  superior  cause.  Daily  bread  and  daily  life,  the  joy  and 
gladness  that  circulated  at  festal  gatherings,  were  duly  acknow¬ 
ledged  as  coming  from  the  same  high  source.  Everywhere  in 
nature  was  felt  the  presence  of  august  invisible  beings :  in  the 
sky,  with  its  luminaries  and  clouds;  on  the  sea,  with  its  fickle, 
changeful  movements;  on  the  earth,  with  its  lofty  peaks,  its 
plains  and  rivers.  It  seemed  that  man  himself,  and  everything 
around  him,  was  upheld  by  Divine  power ;  that  his  career  was 
marked  out  for  him  by  a  rigid  fate  which  even  the  gods  could 
not  alter,  should  they  wish  it  on  occasion.  He  was  indeed 
free  to  act,  but  the  consequences  of  all  his  actions  were  settled 
beforehand. 

These  deities  to  whom  the  affairs  of  the  world  were  entrusted 
were,  it  was  believed,  immortal,  though  not  eternal  in  their 
existence,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to  read  the  legends 
concerning  their  birth.  In  Crete  there  was  even  a  story  of 
the  death  of  Zeus,  his  tomb  being  pointed  out ;  and,  further, 
the  fact*that  the  gods  were  believed  to  sustain  their  existence 
by  means  of  nectar  and  ambrosia,  is  sufficient  proof  of  their 
being  usually  deemed  subject  to  the  infirmities  of  age.  Being 


INTRODUCTION. 


3 


immortal,  they  were  next,  as  a  consequence,  supposed  to  be 
omnipotent  and  omniscient.  Their  physical  strength  was  ex¬ 
traordinary,  the  earth  shaking  sometimes  under  their  tread. 
Whatever  they  did  was  done  speedily.  They  moved  through 
space  almost  without  the  loss  of  a  moment  of  time.  They 
knew  all  things,  saw  and  heard  all  things  with  rare  exceptions. 
They  were  wise,  and  communicated  their  wisdom  to  men. 
They  had  a  most  strict  sense  of  justice,  punished  crime  rigor¬ 
ously,  and  rewarded  noble  actions,  though  it  is  true  that  they 
were  less  conspicuous  for  the  latter.  Their  punishments  came 
quickly,  as  a  rule ;  but  even  if  late,  even  if  not  till  the  second 
generation,  still  they  came  without  fail.  The  sinner  who 
escaped  retribution  in  this  life  was  sure  to  obtain  it  in  the 
lower  world;  while  the  good  who  died  unrewarded  enjoyed 
the  fruit  of  their  good  actions  in  the  next  life.  To  many  this 
did  not  appear  a  satisfactory  way  of  managing  human  affairs, 
and  hence  there  frequently  arose  doubts  as  to  the  absolute  jus¬ 
tice  of  the  gods,  and  even  the  sanctity  of  their  lives.  These 
doubts  were  reflected  in  stories,  which,  to  the  indignation  of 
men  like  the  poet  Pindar,  represented  this  or  that  one  of  the 
gods  as  guilty  of  some  offence  or  other,  such  as  they  were  be¬ 
lieved  to  punish.  Philosophers  endeavored  to  explain  these 
stories,  some  as  mere  fictions  of  the  brain,  others  as  allegories 
under  which  lay  a  profound  meaning.  But  the  mass  of  the 
people  accepted  them  as  they  came,  and  nevertheless  believed 
in  the  perfect  sanctity  of  the  gods,  being  satisfied  that  human 
wickedness  was  detested  and  punished  by  them. 

Whether  the  gods  were  supposed  to  love  the  whole  of  man¬ 
kind,  or  only  such  as  led  good  lives,  is  not  certain.  It  would 
seem,  however,  from  the  universal  practice  of  offering  sacrifice 
and  expiation  on  the  occasion  of  any  wr.ong,  that  they  were  be- 


4 


INTRODUCTION. 


lieved  to  be  endowed  with  some  deep  feeling  of  general  love, 
which  even  sinners  could  touch  by  means  of  atonement.  At 
all  events  they  were  merciful.  They  hated  excessive  prosperity 
''among  individual  men,  and  would  on  such  occasions  exercise 
a  Satanic  power  of  leading  them  into  sin.  They  implanted 
unwritten  laws  of  right  and  wrong  in  the  human  breast.  So¬ 
cial  duties  and  engagements  were  under  their  special  care,  as 
were  also  the  legislative  measures  of  states. 

There  were  tales  of  personal  visits  and  adventures  of  the 
gods  among  men,  taking  part  in  battles,  and  appearing  in 
dreams.  They  were  conceived  to  possess  the  form  of  human 
beings,  and  to  be,  like  men,  subject  to  love  and  pain,  but  al¬ 
ways  characterized  by  the  highest  qualities  and  grandest  form 
that  could  be  imagined.  To  produce  statues  of  them  that  would 
equal  this  high  ideal  was  the  chief  ambition  of  artists;  and  in 
presence  of  statues  in  which  success  had  been  attained,  the  pop¬ 
ular  mind  felt  an  awe  as  if  in  some  way  the  deity  were  near. 
But  while  this  was  the  case  with  regard  to  the  renowned  ex¬ 
amples  of  art,  such  as  the  statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia,  by  Phei- 
dias,  it  was  equally  true  with  regard  to  those  very  ancient  rude 
figures  of  deities  which  were  believed  to  have  fallen  from  hea¬ 
ven,  and  were  on  that  account  most  carefully  preserved  in 
temples,  the  removal  or  loss  of  such  a  figure  being  considered 
an  equivalent  to  the  loss  of  the  favour  of  the  deity  whose  image 
it  was.  This  was  idolatry.  At  the  same  time,  owing  to  the 
vast  number  of  beautiful  and  grand  statues  of  gods,  there 
gradually  arose  a  feeling  of  the  deification  of  man  and  a  struggle 
to  become  more  and  more  like  these  beings  of  nobler  human 
form  and  divine  presence.  For  it  is  one  of  the  advantages  of 
having  gods  possessed  of  human  form  that  mankind  can  look 
up  to  them  with  the  feeling  of  having  something  in  common, 


INTRODUCTION. 


5 


and  the  assurance  of  pity  and  favor.  This  was  a  powerful 
element  in  the  Greek  religion,  and  led  more  than  any  other 
to  the  extraordinary  piety  of  the  Greek  race,  in  spite  of  all  the 
awkward  stories  which  we  are  accustomed  to  ridicule. 

It  would  seem  that  the  gods  were  not  looked  on,  at  any  rate 
popularly,  as  having  created  the  world.  Perhaps  the  mass  of 
the  people  cared  nothing  for  speculation  as  to  the  origin  of 
what  actually  existed,  their  chief  thoughts  being  concentrated 
in  the  changes  that  took  place  in  what  existed  and  directly 
affected  their  interests.  In  this  spirit  they  looked  on  the  gods 
as  only  maintaining  and  preserving  the  existing  order  and 
system  of  things  according  to  their  divine  wisdom.  Hence  it 
was  that  the  Greeks  never  arrived  at  the  idea  of  one  absolute 
eternal  God,  though  they  very  nearly  approached  that  idea  in 
the  case  of  Zeus,  who  occasionally  exercised  control  or  sove¬ 
reignty  over  the  other  gods  who  presided  in  particular  depart¬ 
ments  in  the  management  of  the  world.  Their  natural  tendency 
to  polytheism  may  have  been  further  aggravated  by  the  pecu¬ 
liar  circumstances  of  their  early  history  as  a  race.  It  has  been 
suggested  with  much  plausibility  that  a  number  of  their  deities, 
as  Dione,  Hera,  Gaea,  and  Demeter,  resemble  each  other  so 
much  as  to  warrant  the  reasonableness  of  the  conclusion  that 
their  separate  existence  in  the  mythology  was  due  to  a  coales¬ 
cence  at  some  remote  early  time  of  distinct  tribes  of  the  Greek 
race,  each  possessing  beforehand  a  god  or  gods  of  their  own, 
with  separate  names  and  slightly  different  attributes,  though 
in  the  main  capable  of  identification  and  a  common  worship. 
It  is  probable  that,  in  consequence  of  such  amalgamation,  some 
of  the  earliest  gods  have  disappeared  altogether ;  while  others, 
who  in  after  times,  as  in  the  case  of  Dione,  held  subordinate 
positions,  may  have  originally  been  deities  of  the  first  order. 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


At  the  time  with  which  we  are  here  concerned,  the  Greek 
nation  inhabited  the  country  still  known  by  the  name  of 
Greece,  though  its  present  population  has  small  claim  to  be 
descendants  of  the  ancient  race.  It  was  spread  also  in  colonies 
over  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago  and  Mediterranean,  along 
the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  Black  Sea,  in  the  Crimea, 
on  the  north  coast  of  Africa,  and  on  the  south  coast  of  France. 
In  many  of  its  features  the  mainland  of  Greece  may  be  com¬ 
pared  with  England,  both  having  the  same  comparatively  vast 
extent  of  sea  coast,  very  few  parts  of  the  country  being  out  of 
sight  of  the  sea.  Both  are  well  supplied  with  mountains  that 
invigorate  the  climate,  and  stir  the  spirit  of  adventure.  In 
both  cases  it  may  be  that  this  proximity  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  population  to  the  sea,  with  its  horizon  tempting  young 
minds  to  penetrate  beyond  its  ever-receding  line,  was  the  main 
cause  of  the  general  desire  of  commerce  and  distant  coloniza¬ 
tion.  At  any  rate,  the  natural  features  of  Greece,  her  beauti¬ 
ful  bays,  the  vivid  lines  of  her  mountain  peaks,  her  delightful 
groves  and  valleys,  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  people; 
and  colonists,  wherever  they  spread,  retained  the  warmest  re¬ 
collection  of  them;  of  snow-clad  Olympos,  where  the  gods 
lived;  of  the  lovely  vale  of  Tempe;  of  the  smiling  banks  of 
the  Peneios ;  of  the  sacred  grove  at  Delphi ;  of  peaceful  Arcadia, 
with  its  pastoral  life ;  of  the  broad  plain  of  Olympia,  with  its 
innumerable  temples,  statues,  and  treasure-houses  of  costly 
presents  to  the  gods;  of  Corinth,  with  its  flag  that  ruled  the 
sea;  of  Athens;  of  Thebes,  with  its  ancient  citadel  founded 
by  Cadmus ;  of  Eleusis,  and  many  other  places. 

We  propose  now  to  examine  more  particularly  the  religious 
belief  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  with  the  view  of  preparing 
the  way  for  the  descriptions  that  follow  of  the  gods  indivi- 


INTRODUCTION. 


7 


dually.  But  first  of  all  let  us  explain  the  meaning  of  the  word 
“  mythology.”  According  to  its  derivation  from  the  Greek 
mythos ,  a  tale,  and  logos ,  an  account,  it  would  mean  “  an  ac¬ 
count  of  tales,”  the  tales  in  this  case  being  confined  to  the 
origin,  character,  and  functions  of  the  ancient  gods,  to  the 
origin  of  mankind,  and  the  primitive  condition  of  the  visible 
world.  To  understand  these  stories  we  must  try  to  understand 
the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  invented,  and  must 
endeavour  to  comprehend  the  condition  and  circumstances  of 
a  nation  in  the  early  stage  of  its  existence.  For  this  purpose 
we  can  compare  the  early  tales  relating  to  the  gods  of  other 
nations,  of  the  Indian  on  the  one  hand  and  the  German  on 
the  other;  or  we  may  also  compare  the  condition  of  races  at 
present  in  an  uncivilized  state.  From  these  sources  it  would 
seem  that  the  youth  of  a  nation,  like  that  of  an  individual,  is 
the  period  at  which  the  activity  of  imagination  and  fancy  is 
greatest  in  proportion  as  knowledge  is  least.  The  mystery  of 
surrounding  nature  strikes  forcibly  on  the  mind,  its  phenomena 
on  the  senses.  There  is  a  feeling  of  alarm  when  thunder 
crashes  on  the  ear,  of  gladness  in  the  warm  light  of  day,  of 
terror  in  the  darkness  of  night,  and  of  a  strange  dread  at  the 
darkness  of  death.  -The  accidents  of  daily  life  bind  men  to¬ 
gether,  and  repel  the  rest  of  the  animal  creation,  over  which 
the  human  superiority  soon  becomes  known.  Men  learn  to 
know  each  other  when  as  yet  they  know  nothing  else.  They 
know  their  own  passions  and  instincts.  They  measure  every¬ 
thing  by  themselves,  by  feet,  paces,  palms,  and  ells ;  and  when 
they  seek  to  fathom  or  measure  the  cause  of  the  phenomena  of 
nature  they  have  no  standard  to  employ  at  hand,  except  them¬ 
selves.  They  might,  it  is  true,  imagine  the  cause  of  the  thun¬ 
der  under  the  form  of  a  great  invisible  lion ;  but  in  that  case 


8 


INTRODUCTION. 


they  could  not  commune  with  and  implore  the  thunderer  for 
pity,  as  they  are  moved  to  do.  He  must  therefore  be  con¬ 
ceived  as  fashioned  like  a  man,  endowed  with  the  highest  ima¬ 
ginable  qualities  of  a  man.  As  knowledge  and  civilization 
advance,  those  qualities  become  higher  and  higher.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  first  phenomena  that  appealed  to  the  mind 
were  those  of  the  change  of  weather,  of  seasons,  the  revolving 
day  and  the  revolving  year.  At  any  rate,  the  earliest  deities, 
as  well  as  we  can  trace  them,  appear  to  be  those  who  presided 
over  the  movements  of  the  celestial  sphere. 

We  seem  to  recognise  the  influence  of  such  phenomena  in 
the  chief  characteristics  of  mankind  in  a  primitive  stage  of 
existence — the  sense  of  order  and  regularity,  the  feeling  of 
fatality,  the  conviction  that  whatever  temporary  disturbances 
might  arise,  the  course  of  human  life  obeyed  some  fixed  law, 
coming  with  bright  light,  and  departing  in  darkness,  but  only 
to  commence  another  day  of  happy  life  elsewhere.  We  know 
that  the  name  of  the  highest  god  of  the  ancients  signified  the 
“light  of  the  world,”  in  a  literal  sense.  In  time,  as  the  per¬ 
ceptive  faculties  expanded,  and  the  wants  of  men  multiplied, 
the  other  phenomena  of  the  world  became  the  subject  of  in¬ 
quiry,  and  were,  as  usual,  ascribed  to  the  direct  influence  of 
deities.  The  singular  part,  however,  of  this  process  of  invent¬ 
ing  deities  is,  that  having,  at  the  commencement,  obtained 
one  great  powerful  god,  they  did  not  simply  extend  his  func¬ 
tions  to  all  the  departments  of  nature,  instead  of  finding  a 
new  god  to  preside  over  each.  It  may  be  that  the  apparent 
conflict  frequently  observed  between  the  elements  of  nature 
was  hostile  to  such  an  idea,  while  on  the  contrary  nothing 
was  more  readily  imaginable  than  a  quarrel  among  different 
gods  as  the  cause  of  such  phenomena.  By  a  similar  process 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


the  combination  of  different  elements,  as,  for  example,  warmth 
and  moisture,  was  appropriately  described  from  the  human 
point  of  view  as  a  prolific  union  or  marriage  of  two  deities. 
The  sun  and  moon  were  called  brother  and  sister. 

Another  opinion,  somewhat  at  variance  with  this,  is,  that  the 
primitive  stage  of  all  religions  is  a  universal  belief  in  one  great 
god — such  a  belief,  it  is  said,  being  as  natural  to  man  as  the  use 
of  his  arms  and  legs.  But  this  earliest  and  pure  form  of  belief 
became,  they  say,  in  course  of  time  debased  into  a  belief  in  the 
existence  of  many  gods,  originating  in  such  a  method  of  ex¬ 
plaining  the  phenomena  of  nature  as  we  have  described. 

On  the  other- hand,  the  oldest  religious  records  we  know  of 
— the  Vedas — speak  of  hosts  of  divine  beings;  while  in  the 
primitive  religion  of  the  American  Indians  the  Great  Spirit  is 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  lesser  spirits,  who  represent  the  va¬ 
rious  phenomena  of  nature.  It  would  seem  that  when  the 
notion  of  one  god  did  arise,  it  was  of  the  one  true  God  as 
opposed  to  the  other  and  false  gods,  and  this  did  not  take 
place  till  a  high  stage  of  civilization  was  reached.  In  the  best 
times  of  Greece,  no  doubt,  thinking  men  acknowledged  but 
one  supreme  being,  and  looked  on  the  crowd  of  other  gods 
as  merely  his  servants,  and  in  no  sense  really  different  from 
our  idea  of  angels. 

In  due  time  the  religion  of  the  ancients  became  a  polytheism 
on  a  very  extensive  scale ;  every  phase  of  nature,  sky,  sea,  and 
earth,  every  phase  of  human  life,  its  habits,  accidents,  and 
impulses,  being  provided  with  a  special  guardian  and  control¬ 
ling  deity.  In  all  the  varying  circumstances  of  life  men  turned 
to  one  or  other  of  these  divine  persons  in  gratitude  or  for 
help.  Temples,  sanctuaries,  altars,  were  erected  to  them  every¬ 
where,  one  being  worshipped  with  special  favour  here,  and  an- 


INTRODUCTION. 


IO 


other  there ;  one  with  special  favour  at  one  season  of  the  year, 
another  at  another  season.  Many  of  them  were  only  known 
and  worshipped  in  particular  localities;  as,  for  instance,  ma¬ 
rine  deities  among  people  connected  with  the  sea.  Others  be¬ 
longed  to  particular  periods  of  the  national  history.  This  li¬ 
mitation,  however,  with  regard  to  local  differences,  applies 
only  to  the  vast  number  of  minor  deities  whose  names  and  at¬ 
tributes  have  come  down  to  our  times ;  for  a  belief  in  the  su¬ 
perior  order  of  gods  was  the  common  property  of  the  whole 
nation,  whether  learned  or  unlearned,  and  of  whatever  occu¬ 
pation.  The  mysteries  of  Eleusis  united  the  people  in  honour 
of  Demeter ;  the  national  festivals  united  them  in  honour  of 
other  gods,  as  of  Zeus  at  Olympia.  Every  one  believed  in 
the  oracular  power  of  Apollo,  in  the  might  of  Poseidon,  in 
the  grim  character  of  Hades,  that  Hera  was  the  wife  of  Zeus, 
that  Athene  was  his  daughter,  that  Aphrodite  was  the  goddess 
of  love,  Artemis  of  the  moon,  and  Ares  the  god  of  war. 

It  was  believed  that  these  higher  deities  inhabited  Olympos, 
living  together  in  a  social  state  which  was  but  a  magnified  re¬ 
flection  of  the  social  system  on  earth.  Quarrels,  love  passa¬ 
ges,  mutual  assistance,  and  such  incidents  as  characterize  hu¬ 
man  life,  were  ascribed  to  them.  It  must  however  be  borne 
in  mind  that  these  human  attributes,  and  the  stories  connected 
with  them,  whether  they  represent  admirable  qualities  or  the 
reverse,  were  not  in  the  first  instance  ascribed  to  the  gods  out 
of  a  desire  to  make  their  resemblance  to  man  more  complete, 
but  were  the  natural  result  of  identifying  the  gods  with  the 
elements  of  nature  over  which  they  were  supposed  to  preside, 
of  conceiving  and  representing  the  combination  or  conflict 
of  elements  visible  in  nature  as  the  result  of  the  combination 
of  invisible  beings  of  human  form.  In  later  times  of  higher 


INTRODUCTION. 


1 1 


civilization  and  greater  refinement,  when  the  origin  of  the 
gods  as  personifications  of  natural  phenomena  was  lost  sight 
of,  many  of  these  stories  came  to  be  viewed  as  disgraceful, 
and  by  being  made  the  'subject  of  public  ridicule  in  plays 
tended  largely  to  uproot  the  general  faith  in  the  gods.  Phi¬ 
losophers  attempted  to  explain  them  as  allegories.  Others, 
who  did  not  themselves  see  their  way  to  believing  them,  yet 
advised  that  the  popular  faith  in  them  should  not  be  disturbed. 
But  we  who  live  in  other  times,  having  no  need  of  a  religion 
that  has  long  since  passed  away,  and  desiring  only  to  trace  its 
origin  and  the  source  of  its  long  and  deep  influence  on  a  great 
nation,  may  look  at  them  in  a  calmer  mood.  It  is  our  part 
to  admire  as  far  as  possible,  and  not  to  condemn  without  first 
taking  into  account  every  extenuating  circumstance. 

Turning  now  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  by  which  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  expressed  their  belief  in  and  entire  de¬ 
pendence  on  the  gods,  we  would  call  attention  first  to  the 
offering  of  sacrifices.'  These  were  of  two  kinds,  one  consist¬ 
ing  of  fruits,  cakes,  and  wine ;  the  other  of  animals,  which 
were  led  to  the  altar  decked  with  garlands  and  ribbons,  after 
various  ceremonies  slain,  and  part  of  the  flesh  consumed  upon 
the  altar  fire,  the  smell  of  if  being  supposed  to  rise  agreeably 
to  the  gods.  It  was  necessary  that  the  animals  selected  for 
this  purpose  should  be  spotless  and  healthy,  that  the  persons 
participating  in  the  ceremony  should  be  cleanly  in  person  and 
in  mind  ;  for  no  costliness  could  make  the  offering  of  a  sinner 
acceptable  to  the  gods.  The  colour,  age,  and  sex  of  the  ani¬ 
mal  were  determined  by  the  feeling  of  appropriateness  to  the 
deity  for  whom  it  was  slain.  The  time  chosen  for  the  cere¬ 
mony  was  the  morning  in  the  case  of  the  gods  of  heaven,  the 
evening  in  the  case  of  the  gods  of  the  lower  world.  To  these 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


latter  deities  the  victim  was  always  offered  entire,  as  it  was 
not  deemed  possible  that  they  could  share  in  a  feast  in  com¬ 
pany  with  men.  The  fire  on  the  altar  was  considered  holy, 
and  special  care  was  taken  that  it  should  be  fed  with  wood 
that  gave  a  pure  flame.  In  early  times  it  would  seem  that 
even  human  beings  were  offered  as  sacrifices  to  certain  gods, 
the  victims  in  such  cases  being  occasionally,  to  judge  from  the 
instance  of  Iphigenia,  closely  connected  by  ties  of  blood  and 
affection  with  the  person  required  to  make  the  sacrifice.  But 
these  were,  perhaps,  mostly  cases  in  which  the  will  of  the 
gods  was  specially  communicated  through  a  seer  or  prophet ; 
whereas  sacrifice  generally  was  a  spontaneous  gift  to  the  gods, 
either  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  gratitude  for  the  blessings 
bestowed  by  them,  or  of  atoning  for  some  sin  of  which  the 
person  sacrificing  was  conscious.  Sacrifices  were  not  pre¬ 
sented  intermittently  and  at  mere  pleasure,  but  regularly  when 
occasion  offered,  as  at  harvest  time,  when  the  fruits  of  the 
fields  and  gardens  were  gathered  in.  The  herdsmen  sacrificed 
the  firstlings  of  his  flock,  the  merchant  gave  part  of  his  gain, 
and  the  soldier  a  share  of  his  booty  in  war.  The  gods  to  whom 
all  prosperity  and  worldly  blessings  were  due  expected  such  of¬ 
ferings,  it  was  thought,  and  punished  every  instance  of  neglect. 

There  was,  however,  another  class  of  sacrifices,  springing 
from  a  different  motive,  and  with  a  different  object  in  view ; 
for  example,  to  obtain  by  means  of  an  examination  of  the 
entrails  of  an  animal  an  augury  as  to  the  issue  of  some  enter¬ 
prise, — a  form  of  sacrifice  which  was  held  of  great  importance 
at  the  commencement  of  a  battle  ;  or  to  sanctify  the  ratification 
of  a  treaty,  or  some  important  bargain  between  man  and 
man ;  or  to  obtain  purification  for  some  crime.  In  this  last 
case  it  was  supposed  that  the  victim  took  the  sin  upon  its  own 


INTRODUCTION. 


J3 


head,  and  that  both  perished  together.  Hence  no  part  of 
such  victims  was  eaten. 

How  the  gods  were  supposed  to  partake  of  the  share  of 
sacrifices  allotted  to  them  is  not  always  clear,  though  in  the 
case  of  burnt  offerings  they  may  be  imagined  to  have  been 
satisfied  with  the  smell  that  rose  in  the  air,  and  in  the  case  of 
libations  with  the  aroma  of  the  wine.  With  regard  to  the 
sacrifices  in  honour  of  the  deities  of  the  lower  world,  it  seems 
to  have  been  the  belief  that  the  blood  of  the  victim,  if  poured 
into  a  hole  in  the  ground,  would  sink  down  to  them,  and  be 
acceptably  received.  In  the  same  hole,  or  near  by,  were 
buried  the  ashes  that  remained  on  the  altar  on  which  the 
victim  was  consumed.  The  portions  assigned  to  marine  or 
river  deities  were  sunk  in  deep  water. 

^  It  was  the  duty  of  the  priests  to  perform  the  ceremony  of 
offering  up  the  sacrifices  brought  to  the  gods  in  whose  service 
they  were.  The  first  part  of  the  ceremony  was  to  take  a  bas¬ 
ket  containing  the  sacrificial  knife,  some  corn,  and  perhaps 
also  flowers,  and  to  pass  it,  along  with  a  vessel  containing  wa¬ 
ter,  round  the  altar  from  left  to  right.  The  water  was  next 
purified  by  dipping  a  brand  from  the  altar  in  it.  Thereupon 
the  people  who  had  brought  the  sacrifice  sprinkled  themselves 
and  the  altar,  and  taking  a  handful  of  corn  from  the  basket, 
scattered  it  on  the  head  of  the  victim  as  it  approached.  The 
priest  then,  after  shearing  a  lock  of  hair  from  the  head  of  the 
animal,  and  distributing  it  among  the  bystanders  to  be  thrown 
on  the  altar  fire,  commanded  silence,  prayed  that  the  offering 
might  be  acceptable  to  the  god,  and  slew  the  victim.  The 
blood,  except  in  the  case  of  the  deities  of  the  lower  world,  as 
has  been  observed,  and  the  entrails,  wer£  mixed  with  wheat, 
wine,  and  incense,  and  placed  upon  the  fire. 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  strong  feelings  of  piety,  gratitude,  dependence,  or  con¬ 
sciousness  of  guilt,  which  gave  rise  to  such  offerings,  gave  rise 
also  to  a  universal  habit  of  prayer,  and  a  desire  to  frequent  on 
all  possible  occasions  the  temples  and  altars  of  the  gods. 
Morning  and  evening,  at  the  beginning  of  meals,  at  the  open¬ 
ing  of  business  in  the  courts  of  justice  and  public  assemblies, 
a  prayer  was  offered  up,  now  to  one  god,  now  to  another,  or, 
if  no  particular  deity  appeared  to  be  an  appropriate  guardian 
for  the  time  and  occasion,  to  the  gods  generally.  There  was 
this  peculiarity  in  the  Greek  prayers,  which  we  must  not  omit 
to  mention,  that  after  calling  on  a  deity  by  his  usual  name  a 
clause  was  added  to  save  the  suppliant  from  any  possible  dis¬ 
pleasure  of  the  deity  at  the  name  employed ;  for  how  could 
man  know  the  true  name  of  a  god?  We  have  an  example  of 
such  a  prayer  in  .ZEschylus:  “Zeus,  whoever  thou  art,  and  by  * 
whatever  name  it  please  thee  to  be  named,  I  call  on  thee  and 
pray.”  In  praying  to  the  gods  above  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  Greeks  to  lift' the  hands  and  turn  the  face  towards  the 
east ;  of  the  Romans,  to  turn  towards  the  north.  A  suppliant 
of  the  sea  gods  stretched  out  his  hands  towards  the  sea,  and  a 
suppliant  of  the  gods  of  the  lower  world  beat  the  earth  with 
his  hands.  When  a  prayer  was  offered  up  in  a  temple  the  rule 
was  to  turn  towards  the  sacred  image.  In  cases  of  great  dis¬ 
tress  the  suppliant  would  carry  an  olive  branch,  or  a  rod  with 
wool  twined  round  it,  throw  himself  on  the  ground  before  the 
sacred  image,  and  embrace  its  feet.  Pythagoras,  the  philoso¬ 
pher,  taught  his  followers  to  pray  with  a  loud  voice ;  but  loud 
prayers  do  not  appear  to  have  been  customary.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  it  happened  not  unfrequently  that  the  prayers  were  writ¬ 
ten  on  tablets,  sealed  and  deposited  beside  the  image  of  the 
god,  that  no  human  being  might  be  aware  of  the  request  con- 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


tained  in  them.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  what  seems  to  have 
been  the  usual  form:  “Zeus,  our  lord,  give  unto  us  whatever 
is  good,  whether  we  ask  it  of  thee  or  not ;  whatever  is  evil 
keep  far  from  us,  even  if  we  ask  it  of  thee.” 

Besides  sacrifice  and  prayer  there  is  still  another  class  of 
ceremonies,  in  which  we  recognize  the  deep  piety  of  the 
Greeks :  first,  the  custom  of  consulting  oracles,  especially  that 
of  Apollo  at  Delphi,  in  times  of  great  perplexity]  and  secondly, 
the  universal  practice,  in  cases  of  less  or  more  sudden  emer¬ 
gency,*  of  trying  to  interpret  the  will  of  the  gods  by  means 
of  augury  or  divination  in  a  vast  variety  of  ways.  Sometimes 
the  augury  was  taken  from  the  direction  in  which  birds  were 
observed  to  fly  overhead.  If  to  the  right  of  the  augur,  who 
stood  with  his  face  to  the  north,  good  luck  would  attend  the 
enterprise  in  question ;  if  to  the  left,  the  reverse.  At  other 
times  an  animal  was  slain,  and  its  entrails  carefully  examined, 
the  propitiousness  of  the  gods  being  supposed  to  depend  on  the 
healthy  and  normal  condition  of  these  parts.  But  the  gods 
were  also  believed  to  communicate  their  will  to  men  in  dreams, 
by  sending  thunder  and  lightning,  comets,  meteors,  eclipses, 
earthquakes,  prodigies  in  nature,  and  the  thousands  of  unex¬ 
pected  incidents  that  occur  to  men.  As  few  persons  were  able 
to  interpret  the  bearing  of  these  signs  and  wonders,  there  was 
employment  for  a  large  class  of  people  who  made  this  their 
particular  business. 

Finally,  we  must  not  forget  to  mention  as  a  proof  of  the  wide¬ 
spread  religious  feeling  of  the  Greeks  the  national  festivals,  or 
games,  as  they  are  called,  established  and  maintained  in  honour 
of  certain  gods.  While  these  festivals  were  being  celebrated 
it  was  necessary  to  suspend  whatever  war  might  be  going  on  be¬ 
tween  separate  states,  and  to  permit  visitors  to  pass  unmolest- 


1 6 


INTRODUCTION. 


ed  even  through  hostile  territory.  These  festivals  were  four 
in  number:  the  Olympian,  Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isthmian. 

The  first-mentioned  was  held  in  honour  of  Zeus,  on  the  plain 
of  Olympia,  in  Elis.  It  occurred  every  fifth  year,  and  the  usual 
method  of  reckoning  time  was  according  to  its  re-occurrence, 
by  Olympiads,  as  we  say.  The  games  with  which  it  was  cele¬ 
brated  consisted  of  running,  wrestling,  boxing,  a  combination 
of  the  two  latter,  horse-racing,  either  with  chariots  or  only 
with  riders.  The  prize  of  victory  was  simply  a  wreath  of  olive, 
and  yet  athletes  trained  themselves  laboriously  and  travelled 
great  distances  to  compete  for  it.  Kings  sent  their  horses  to 
run  in  the  races,  and  counted  a  victory  among  the  highest  ho¬ 
nours  of  their  lives.  The  fellow-townsmen  of  a  victorious  athlete 
would  raise  a  statue  in  his  honour.  Occasionally  writers,  as 
we  are  told  of  Herodotus,  took  this  occasion  of  a  vast  assem¬ 
blage  of  their  countrymen  to  read  to  them  part  of  their 
writings.  The  Pythian  games  were  held  in  honour  of  Apollo, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Delphi,  and  occurred  every  fifth  year, 
there  being  competition  in  music  as  well  as  in  athletics.  The 
prize  was  a  wreath  of  laurel.  At  the  Nemean  games,  which 
were  held  in  honour  of  Zeus,  the  prize  was  a  wreath  of  ivy. 
The  Isthmian  games  were  held  in  honour  of  Poseidon,  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth,  and  occurred  every  third  year;  the  prize 
was  a  wreath  of  pine. 

It  is  remarkable  and  surprising  that,  with  all  the  piety 
and  religious  ceremonies  of  the  ancients,  there  existed  among 
them  no  established  means  of  instruction  for  the  mass  of  the 
people,  as  to  the  character  and  functions  of  the  gods  whom 
they  worshipped.  There  was,  indeed,  a  regular  priesthood, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  conduct  the  public  ceremonies,  to  offer 
up  sacrifices,  and  to  perform  other  offices  peculiar  to  the  god  in 


INTRODUCTION. 


17 


whose  service  they  were.  But  there  their  duties  ceased.  These 
ceremonies  had  been  handed  down  from  time  immemorial,  and 
that  was  perhaps  sufficient  guarantee  of  their  importance  to 
make  the  ordinary  Greek  assiduous  in  his  observance  of  them. 
At  any  rate,  this  assiduity  is  not  traceable  to  a  clear  and 
explicit  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  gods  derived  from 
public  instruction.  In  regard  to  that,  whatever  unanimity 
existed  was  unquestionably  due  in  the  first  instance  to  the 
influence  of  poets  like  Homer  and  Hesiod,  and  in  the  second, 
to  the.  exertion  of  the  persons  connected  with  the  oracle  at 
Delphi.  The  effect  of  this  state  of  things  was  a  great  amount 
of  confusion  in  the  popular  mind,  and  not  only  in  the  popular 
mind,  but  also  in  the  minds  of  men  like  Socrates,  who  con¬ 
fessed  he  did  not  know  whether  there  was  one  Aphrodite  or 
two,  and  wondered  why  Zeus,  who  was  believed  to  be  one 
god,  had  so  many  names. 

The  preceding  remarks,  it  should  be  here  observed,  apply 
for  the  most  part  only  to  the  mythology  of  the  Greeks,  and 
do  not  extend  to  that  of  the  Romans,  except  so  far  as  they 
refer  to  the  most  primitive  class  of  myths,  such  as  those  con¬ 
cerning  the  origin  of  the  world.  For  the  practice  of  identi¬ 
fying  the  mythologies  of  those  two  nations  has  no  foundation 
in  fact.  Both  races,  it  is  true,  belonged  to  one  and  the  same 
great  branch  of  the  human  family,  and  from  that  source  de¬ 
rived  a  common  kernel  of  religious  belief.  But  before  this 
kernel  had  developed  far  the  two  nations  parted,  and  formed 
for  themselves  distinct  and  isolated  settlements  in  Europe. 
In  the  long  period  of  isolation,  that  followed,  the  common  seed 
of  religious  belief  with  which  both  started  grew  up,  was  pro¬ 
pagated  under  quite  different  circumstances,  and  assumed  a 

very  different  aspect.  The  Romans — in  the  early  period  of  their 
2 


1 8 


INTRODUCTION. 


history  a  pastoral,  agricultural,  simple,  and  more  or  less  uni¬ 
ted  people — had  no  need  of  a  various  multitude  of  deities,  such 
as  the  Greeks  found  necessary,  scattered  and  separated  as  they 
were  into  a  variety  of  tribes  with  a  variety  of  occupations. 

From  this,  among  other  causes,  it  happens  that  many,  even 
of  the  very  early  Greek  myths,  were  quite  foreign  to  the  Ro¬ 
mans.  To  this  class  belong,  for  instance,  the  myths  that  de¬ 
scribe  the  conflict  between  Uranos  and  his  sons:  Kronos  de¬ 
vouring  his  children  to  escape,  as  he  thought,  being  dethroned 
by  them,  and  Zeus  placing  his  father,  Kronos,  in  durance  in 
Tartaros.  No  less  strictly  peculiar  to  the  Greeks  were  those 
accounts  of  quarrels  among  the  gods,  wounds,  and  occasion¬ 
ally  the  banishment  of  certain  gods  to  a  period  of  service  on 
earth.  To  these  we  may  add  the  carrying  off  of  Persephone 

4 

by  Pluto,  and  several  other  stories.  With  regard  to  th£  cere¬ 
monies  which  accompanied  the  worship  of  certain  gods,  we 
observe  the  same  great  difference  between  the  two  nations, 
and  would  cite  as  an  example  the  wild  unrestrained  conduct 
of  those  who  took  part  in  the  festivals  of  Dionysos,  remark¬ 
ing  that  when  in  later  times  of  luxury  a  festival  of  this  kind 
was  introduced  into  Italy  in  honour  of  Bacchus,  the  Roman 
equivalent  for  the  Greek  Dionysos  or  Bakchos,  the  new  festi¬ 
val  was  forbidden,  and  those  who  took  part  in  it  were  viewed 
as  persons  of  unbridled  desires.  Nor  did  Mercury  ever  ob¬ 
tain  the  wide-spread  worship  and  honour  paid  to  Hermes  in 
Greece;  and  even  Saturnus,  in  spite  of  the  Roman  poets, 
was  a  very  different  god  from  the  Greek  Kronos. 

At  the  time  when  the  Roman  poets  began  to  write,  “Greece 
captured  was  leading  her  captor  captive.”  Greek  literature 
was  the  usual  means  of  education ;  Greek  philosophy,  Greek 
art, — everything  pertaining  to  the  Greeks, — constituted  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


!9 


principal  pursuit  of  educated  men.  Many  would  rather  em¬ 
ploy  the  Greek  than  their  own  language  in  writing.  Poets, 
constructing  their  poems  often  in  close  imitation  of  Greek 
models,  replaced  the  names  of  gods  that  occurred  in  the  Greek 
originals  by  names  of  native  deities  possessing  some  similari¬ 
ty  of  character,  and  told  a  Greek  story  of  a  native  Italian 
god;  or,  failing  such,  employed  the  Greek  name  in  a  Latin 
form.  At  the  same  time  no  real  adaptation  or  coalescence  of 
the  two  religious  systems  ever  took  place.  The  Roman  ceremo¬ 
nies  and  forms  of  worship  remained  for  the  most  part  distinct 
from  the  Greek,  and  peculiar  to  the  race.  In  modern  times, 
however,  the  literature  (especially  the  poetry)  of  the  ancient 
Romans  was  more  familiarly  known  than  the  facts  relating  to 
their  ceremonies  and  forms  of  worship.  It  was  more  early 
and  familiarly  known  than  the  literature  of  Greece,  and  in¬ 
stead  of  upon  the  latter,  the  modern  notions  of  Greek  mytho¬ 
logy  were  founded  on  the  statements  of  the  Roman  poets. 
Hence,  arose  a  confusion  which  our  own  poets,  especially  those 
of  the  last  century,  only  made  worse  confounded.  To  meet 
this  confusion  we  shall  give  the  accredited  Roman  equivalent 
by  the  side  of  the  Greek  gods,  throughout  our  descriptions, 
and  point  out  as  far  as  possible  the  differences  between  them. 

Thus  far  our  observations  have  been  confined  to  the  mytho¬ 
logy  and  religious  ceremonies  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  es¬ 
pecially  of  the  former.  We  have  had  very  little  to  say  of  the 
Romans,  because,  though  equal  perhaps  to  the  Greeks  in  their 
piety  and  trust  in  the  gods,  they  appear  to  have  been  very 
deficient  in  ‘that  quality  of  imagination  which  could  readily 
invent  some  divine  personification  for  every  phenomenon  of 
nature  that  struck  the  mind.  As,  however,  it  is  our  intention 
to  include  a  description,  even  if  very  brief,  of  the  mythology 


20 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  the  Indian  and  Teutonic  or  Germanic  races,  it  may  be  well 
to  call  attention  here  to  the  fact,  now  clearly  ascertained,  that 
these  races  are  sprung  from  the  same  common  family  or  hu¬ 
man  stock  to  which  the  Greeks  and  Romans  belonged,  and 
that  at  least  certain  ideas  concerning  the  origin  and  primitive 
condition  of  the  world  are  common  to  the  mythologies  of  them 
all.  From  this  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  these  ideas 
were  arrived  at  previous  to  the  separation  of  this  great  Indo- 
Germanic  family,  as  it  is  called,  and  its  development  into 
distinct  and  isolated  nations,  as  we  find  it  at  the  dawn  of 
historical  times.  From  the  Ganges  to  Iceland  we  meet  with 
traces  of  a  common  early  belief  that  the  wild  features  of  the 
earth  had  been  produced  by  some  long  past  convulsive  conflict 
of  Titanic  beings,  whom,  though  invisible,  the  stormy  elements 
of  nature  still  obeyed.  We  find  that  everywhere,  within  these 
limits  of  space  and  time,  there  existed  among  men  the  same 
sensitiveness  to  the  phenomena  of  nature, — to  light  and  dark¬ 
ness,  to  heat  and  cold,  to  rain  and  drought,  to  storms  and 
peacefulness, — and  the  same  readiness  and  power  of  imagining 
invisible  beings  of  human  form,  but  loftier  attributes,  as  the 
cause  of  these  phenomena.  To  these  beings  actions  and  habits 
of  life  were  ascribed,  such  as  were  suggested  by  the  phenomena 
which  they  were  supposed  to  control;  and  in  no  case,  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  was  any  feeling  of  morality  or  immo¬ 
rality  intended  to  be  conveyed.  For  instance,  when  we  find 
the  natural  process  by  which  the  clouds  pour  out  their  rain  up¬ 
on  the  earth,  and  are  again  filled  from  the  sea,  described  as  Her¬ 
mes  (the  god  of  rain)  stealing  the  cattle  (clouds)  of  Apollo,  we 
cannot  attach  to  the  story  the  idea  of  criminality  which  it  at 
first  suggests.  Similar  interpretations  we  must  be  prepared  to 
seek  throughout  the  mythologies  of  the  Indo-Germanic  races. 


INTRODUCTION. 


t 


21 


It  may  now  be  asked,  from  what  source  is  this  knowledge 
derived  of  the  mythology  of  the  ancients?  To  this  we  reply, 
from  the  works  of  ancient  writers,  poets,  historians,  philo¬ 
sophers,  and  others,  to  whom  the  religious  belief  of  their 
countrymen  was  a  subject  of  great  importance,  and  whose 
writings  have  survived  to  our  times ;  in  the  second  place,  from 
the  representations  of  gods  and  mythological  scenes  on  the  im¬ 
mense  number  of  ancient  works  of  art  that  still  exist,  whether 
in  the  form  of  statues  in  marble  and  bronze,  painted  vases, 
engraved  gems,  or  coins.  These  are  the  sources  of  our  know¬ 
ledge,  and  without  becoming  more  or  less  familiar  with  them 
it  is  perhaps  impossible  to  understand  fully  the  spirit  of  these 
ancient  myths;  and  contrariwise,  to  be  able  to  appreciate  at 
its  real  worth  the  beauty  of  ancient  works,  whether  in  literature 
or  in  art,  it  is  necessary  to  become  acquainted  with  the  mytho¬ 
logy  and  the  religious  spirit  which  guided  their  authors ;  and 
if  that  be  not  sufficient  temptation  to  follow  our  descriptions 
of  the  various  deities  and  heroes  of  ancient  times,  we  can  still 
appeal  to  this, — that  a  great  part  of  our  grandest  modern 
poetry  and  works  of  art  can  only  be  intelligible  to  those  who 
know  the  ancient  mythology. 

Drawing  near,  as  we  are  now,  to  the  details  of  our  subject, 
we  become  anxious  to  guard  against  all  feelings  of  impropriety 
in  what  we  may  have  occasionally  to  relate.  We  would  there¬ 
fore  remind  the  reader  of  the  principle  of  interpretation  which 
we  have  endeavoured  to  explain  in  the  preceding  pages.  We 
would  also  repeat  that  we  have  here  to  do  with  a  system  of 
religious  belief  which,  whatever  its  apparent  or  real  shortco¬ 
mings  may  have  been,  exercised  enormous  influence  on  the 
education  of  at  least  two  of  the  most  civilized  nations  of  the 
earth. 


/ 


THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD. 


IN  thinking  of  the  origin  of  the  world  in  which  they  lived, 
the  Greeks  for  the  most  part,  it  would  appear,  were  satis¬ 
fied  with  the  explanation  given  by  the  poet  Hesiod, — that  in 
the  beginning  the  world  was  a  great  shapeless  mass  or  chaos 
out  of  which  was  fashioned  first  the  spirit  of  love,  Eros 
(Cupid),  and  the  broad-chested  earth,  Gaea  ;  then  Erebos, 
darkness,  and  Nyx,  night.  From  a  union  of  the  two  latter 
sprang  .ffither,  the  clear  sky,  and  Hemera,  day.  The 
earth,  by  virtue  of  the  power  by  which  it  was  fashioned,  pro- 
,  duced  in  turn,  Uranos,  the  firmament  which  covered  her 
with  its  vault  of  brass,  as  the  poets  called  it,  to  describe  its 
appearance  of  eternal  duration,  the  mountains,  and  Pontos, 
the  unfruitful  sea.  Thereupon  Eros,  the  oldest  and  at  the 
same  time  the  youngest  of  the  gods,  began  to  agitate  the  earth 
and  all  things  on  it,  bringing  them  together,  and  making 
pairs  of  them.  First  in  importance  of  these  pairs  were  Ura¬ 
nos  and  Gaea,  heaven  and  earth,  who  peopled  the  earth  with 
a  host  of  beings,  Titans,  Giants,  and  Kyklopes,  of  far  greater 
physical  frame  and  energy  than  the  races  who  succeeded  them. 
It  is  a  beautiful  idea,  that  of  love  making  order  out  of  chaos, 
bringing  opposite  elements  together,  and  preparing  a  world 
to  receive  mankind. 

Another  apparently  older  and  certainly  obscure  notion,  is 

that  expressed  by  Homer,  which  ascribes 'the  origin  of  the 

world  to  Okeanos,  the  ocean.  How  the  earth  and  heavens 
22 


THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD. 


23 


sprang  from  him,  or  whether  they  were  conceived  as  co-exist¬ 
ing  with  him  from  the  beginning,  we  are  not  told.  The 
numerous  ancient  stories,  however,  concerning  floods,  after 
which  new  generations  of  men  sprang  up,  and  the  fact  that 
the  innumerable  fertilizing  rivers  and  streams  of  the  earth 
were  believed  to  come  from  the  ocean,  as  they  were  seen  to 
return  to  it,  and  that  all  the  river  gods  were  accounted  the 
offspring  of  Okeanos,  suggest  the  prevalence  of  such  a  form 
of  belief  with  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  world  in  times  pre¬ 
vious  to  Hesiod.  We  are  told  that  the  ocean  encircled  the 
earth  with  a  great  stream,  and  was  a  region  of  wonders  of  all 
kinds;  that  Okeanos  lived  there,  with  his  wife  Tethys  ;  that 
there  were  the  islands  of  the  blest,  the  gardens  of  the  gods, 
the  sources  of  the  nectar  and  ambrosia  on  which  the  gods 
lived.  Within  this  circle  of  water  the  earth  lay  spreacl  out 
like  a  disc  with  mountains  rising  from  it,  and  the  vault  of 
heaven  appearing  to  rest  on  its  outer  edge  all  round.  This 
outer  edge  was  supposed  to  be  slightly  raised,  so  that  the 
water  might  not  rush  in  and  overflow  the  land.  The  space 
between  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  the  heavens  was  seen  to 
be  occupied  by  air  and  clouds,  and  above  the  clouds  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  pure  ether,  in  which  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars 
moved.  The  sun  rising  in  the  eastern  sky  in  the  morning, 

traversing  the  celestial  arch  during  the  day,  and  sinking  at 
*  , 

■evening  in  the  west,  was  thought  to  be  under  the  guidance  of 

a  god  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  splendid  horses.  After 

sinking  into  Okeanos,  it  was  supposed  that  he  took  ship  and 

sailed  during  the  night  round  to  the  east,  so  as  to  be  ready  to 

begin  a  new  day. 

In  the  region  of  air  above  the  clouds  moved  the  higher 
order  of  gods ;  and  when,  for  the  sake  of  council  or  inter- 


24 


THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD. 


course  they  met  together,  the  meeting  place  was  the  summit 
of  one  of  those  lofty  mountains  whose  heads  were  hid  in  the 
clouds,  but  chief  of  all,  the  inaccessible  Olympos  in  Thessaly. 
Round  the  highest  point  of  it  was  the  palace  of  Zeus,  with  the 
throne  on  which  he  sat  in  majesty  to  receive  such  visits  as 
those  of  Thetis  (Iliad  i.  498)  when  she  came  to  plead  for  her 
son.  On  plateaus  or  in  ravines  lower  down  were  the  mansions 
of  the  other  gods,  provided,  as  was  thought,  with  the  con¬ 
venience  of  store-rooms,  stabling,  and  all  that  was  usual  in 
the  houses  of  princes  on  earth.  The  deities  who  thus  inhabi¬ 
ted  Olympos,  and  for  that  reason  were  styled  the  Olympian 
deities,  were  twelve  in  number.  We  do  not,  it  is  true,  always 
find  this  number  composed  of  the  same  gods,  but  the  follow¬ 
ing  may  be  taken  as  having  been  the  most  usual ;  Zeus 
(Jupiter),  Hera  (Juno),  Poseidon  (Neptune),  Demeter 
(Ceres),  Apollo,  Artemis  (Diana),  Hephaestos  (Vulcan), 
Pallas,  Athene  (Minerva),  Ceres  (Mars),  Aphrodite 
(Venus),  Hermes  (Mercury),  and  Hestia  (Vesta).  Though 
allied  to  each  other  by  various  degrees  of  relationship,  and 
worshipped  in  many  places  at  altars  dedicated  to  them  as  a 
united  body,  they  did  not  always  act  together  in  harmony,  a 
most  memorable  instance  of  their  discord  being  that  (Iliad 
viii.  13-27)  in  which  Zeus  threatened  to  hurl  the  others  into 
Tartaros,  and  challenged  them  to  move  him  from  Olympos 
by  letting  themselves  down  with  a  golden  chain  and  pulling 
with  all  their  might.  Should  they  try  it,  he  said,  he  could 
easily  draw  them  up  with  earth  and  sea  to  the  bargain,  fasten 
the  chain  to  the  top  of  Olympos,  and  let  the  whole  hang  in 
mid  air.  The  name  of  Olympos  was  not  confined  to  the 
Thessalian  mountain,  though  it  may  have  had  the  earliest,  as 
in  after  times  it  had  the  principal,  claim  to  the  title,  but  was 


THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD. 


25 


applied  to  no  less  than  fourteen  mountains  in  various  parts 
of  the  Greek  world,  each  of  which  appears  to  have  been 
regarded  as  an  occasional  meeting  place,  if  not  a  permanent 
seat  of  the  gods.  Finally,  the  word  was  used  to  designate  a  re¬ 
gion  above  the  visible  sky,  from  which,  to  express  its  height, 
it  was  said  that  once  a  brazen  anvil  fell  nine  days  and  nine 
nights  before  it  reached  the  earth.  At  an  equal  distance  be¬ 
neath  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  Tartaros,  a  vast  gloomy  space 
walled  in  with  brass,  where  the  Titans  lived  in  banishment. 

The  lower  order  of  deities,  having  naturally  no  place  in  Olym- 
pos,  were  restricted  to  the  localities  on  earth  where  they  exer¬ 
cised  their  powers — as,  for  instance,  the  Naiads,  or  Nymphs 
of  fountains,  to  the  neighbourhood  of  fountains  and  springs ; 
the  Oreads,  or  mountain  Nymphs,  to  the  mountains  and  hills; 
and  the  Dryads,  or  Nymphs  of  trees,  to  trees.  With  regard  to 
the  place  of  residence  of  the  heroes  or  semi-divine  beings  after 
their  translation  from  earth,  there  existed  considerable  variety 
of  opinion,  of  which  we  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  speak. 

Representations  of  the  deities  assembled  in  Olympos  for  a  particular  occa¬ 
sion — as  at  the  birth  of  Athene  from  the  head  of  her  father  Zeus — occur  not 
unfrequently  on  the  Greek  painted  vases.  This  was  the  subject  chosen  by 
Pheidias  for  the  sculptures  in  one  of  the  pediments  of  the  Parthenon  now  in 
the  British  Museum.  The  loss,  however,  of  many  of  the  figures  renders  it 
impossible  to  say  now  who  were  the  deities  he  selected,  or  whether  he  even 
adhered  to  the  usual  number  of  twelve.  At  one  end  of  the  pediment  the  sun 
rises  in  his  chariot  from  the  sea,  at  the  other  the  moon  rides  away.  The  event 
must  therefore  have  taken  place  at  the  break  of  day.  The  same  fact  is  to 
be  observed  in  the  scene  at  the  birth  of  Aphrodite,  in  presence  of  the  assem¬ 
bled  deities,  with  which  Pheidias  adorned  the  base  of  his  statue  of  Zeus  at 
Olympia,  and  of  which  we  have  still  the  description  in  Pausanias  (v.  403.)  At 
one  end  was  the  Sun  stepping  into  his  chariot,  next  to  him  Zeus  and  Hera, 
then  Hephaestos  (?)  and  Charis,  then  Hermes  and  Hestia.  In  the  centre  was 
Eros  receiving  Aphrodite  as  she  rises  from  the  sea,  and  Peitho  crowning  Aph¬ 
rodite  ;  then  Apollo  and  Artemis,  next  Athene  and  Herakles,  then  Poseidon 
and  Amphitrite,  and  lastly  the  Moon  (Selene)  riding  away.  The  deities  are 
thus  grouped  in  pairs  of  male  and  female,  those  of  greater  importance  being 
towards  either  end  of  the  composition. 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


URANOS 

IS  a  personification  of  the  sky  as  the  ancients  saw  and  under¬ 
stood  its  phenomena,  and  with  him,  according  to  the  ver¬ 
sion  of  mythology  usually  accepted  by  the  Greeks,  commences 
the  race  of  gods.  Next  succeeded  Kronos,  and  lastly, 
Zeus.  With  regard  to  this  triple  succession  of  supreme  rulers 
of  the  world,  we  should  notice  the  different  and  progressive 
signification  of  their  three  names,  Uranos  signifying  the  hea¬ 
vens  viewed  as  husband  of  the  earth,  and  by  his  warmth  and 
moisture  producing  life  and  vegetation  everywhere  on  it; 
Kronos,  his  successor,  being  the  god  of  harvest,  who  also 
ripened  and  matured  every  form  of  life ;  while  in  the  person 
of  Zeus,  god  of  the  light  of  heaven,  as  his  name  implies,  cul¬ 
minated  the  organization  and  perfectly  wise  and  just  dispensa¬ 
tion  of  the  affairs  of  the  universe.  Uranos,  as  we  have 
already  observed,  was  a  son  of  Gaea  (the  earth),  whom  he 
afterwards  married,  the  fruit  of  that  union  being  the  Titans, 
the  Hekatoncheires,  and  the  Kyklopes. 

The  Hekatoncheires,  or  Centimani,  beings  each  with  a 
hundred  hands,  were  three  in  number;  Kottos,  Gyges  or 
Gyes,  and  Briareus,  and  represented  the  frightful  crashing 
of  waves  and  its  resemblance  to  the  convulsion  of  earthquakes. 
The  Kyklopes  also  were  three  in  number:  Brontes  with  his 
26 


URANOS. 


27 


thunder,  Steropes  with  his  lightning,  and  Arges  with  his 
stream  of  light.  They  were  represented  as  having  only  one 
eye,  which  was  placed  at  the  juncture  between  nose  and  brow. 
It  was,  however,  a  large  flashing  eye,  as  became  beings  who 
were  personifications  of  the  storm-cloud,  with  its  flashes  of 
destructive  lightning  and  peals  of  thunder.  From  a  similarity 
observed  between  the  phenomena  of  storms  and  those  of 
volcanic  eruptions,  it  was  usually  supposed  that  the  Kyklopes 
lived  in  the  heart  of  burning  mountains,  above  all,  in  Mount 
Etna,  in  Sicily,  where  they  acted  as  apprentices  of  Hephaes- 
tos  (Vulcan),  assisting  him  to  make  thunderbolts  for  Zeus, 
and  in  other  works.  Uranos,  it  was  said,  alarmed  at  their 
promise  of  fierceness  and  strength,  had  cast  the  Hekatonchei- 
res  and  Kyklopes  at  their  birth  back  into  the  womb  of  the 
earth  from  which  they  had  sprung. 

The  Titans  were,  like  the  Olympian  deities,  twelve  in 
number,  and  grouped  for  the  most  part  in  pairs:  Okeanos 
and  Tethys,  Hyperion  and  Theia,  Kreios  and  Eury- 
bia,  Koios  and  Phoebe,  Kronos  and  Rhea,  Japetos  and 
Themis.  Instead  of  Eurybia  we  find  frequently  Mnemo¬ 
syne.  Their  names,  though  not  in  every  case  quite  intelli¬ 
gible,  show  that  they  were  personifications  of  those  primary 
elements  and  forces  of  nature  to  the  operations  of  which,  in 
the  first  ages,  the  present  configuration  of  the  earth  was 
supposed  to  be  due.  While  Themis,  Mnemosyne,  and  Jape¬ 
tos  may  be  singled  out  as  personifications  of  a  civilizing  force 
in  the  nature  of  things,  and  as  conspicuous  for  having  off¬ 
spring  endowed  with  the  same  character,  the  other  Titans 
appear  to  represent  wild,  powerful,  and  obstructive  forces. 
In  keeping  with  this  character  we  find  them  rising  in  rebellion 
first  against  their  father  and  afterwards  against  Zeus. 


28 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


In  the  former  experiment  the  result  was  that  Uranos,  as 
we  learn  from  the  poetic  account  of  the  myth,  threw  them 
into  Tartaros,  where  he  kept  them  bound.  But  Gaea,  his 
wife,  grieving  at  the  hard  fate  of  her  offspring,  provided  the 
youngest  son,  Kronos,  with  a  sickle  or  curved  knife,  which 
she  had  made  of  stubborn  adamant,  and  told  him  how  and 
when  to  wound  his  father  with  it  irremediably.-  The  enter¬ 
prise  succeeded,  the  Titans  were  set  free,  married  their  sisters, 
and  begat  a  numerous  family  of  divine  beings,  while  others  of 
the  same  class  sprang  from  the  blood  of  the  wound  of  Uranos 
as  it  fell  to  the  ground.  Of  these  were  the  Giants,  monsters 
with  legs  formed  of  serpents;  the  Melian  nymphs,  or 
nymphs  of  the  oaks,  from  which  the  shafts  used  in  war  were 
fashioned;  and  the  Erinys,  or  Furiae,  as  the  Romans 
called  them, — Tisiphone,  Megaera,  and  Alekto, — crea¬ 
tures  whose  function  it  was  originally  to  avenge  the  shedding 
of  a  parent’s  blood.  Their  form  was  that  of  women,  with 
hair  of  snakes  and  girdles  of  vipers.  They  were  a  terror  to 
-  criminals,  whom  they  pursued  with  unrelenting  fury.  The 
whole  of  these  divine  beings,  however,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Erinys,  who  were  worshipped  at  Athens  under  the  name 
of  the  “venerable  deities,”  were  excluded  from  the  religion 
of  the  Greeks,  and  had  a  place  only  in  the  mythology,  while 
among  the  Romans  they  were  unknown  till  later  times,  and 
even  then  were  only  introduced  as  poetic  fictions,  with  no 
hold  upon  the  religious  belief  of  the  people. 


i 


■ 


I 


r 


Rhea. 


KRONOS. 


29 


■4. 


KRONOS, 

(plate  I.,) 

‘The  ripener,  the  harvest  god,’  was,  as  we  have  already  re¬ 
marked,  a  son  of  Uranos.  That  he  continued  for  a  long  time 
to  be  identified  with  the  Roman  deity,  Saturnus,  is  a  mis¬ 
take  which  recent  research  has  set  right,  and  accordingly  we 
shall  devote  a  separate  chapter  to  each.  Uranos,  deposed 
from  the  throne  of  the  gods,  was  succeeded  by  Kronos,  who 
married  his  own  sister  Rhea,  a  daughter  of  Gaea,  who  bore 
him  Pluto,  Poseidon  (Neptune),  and  Zeus  (Jupiter), 
Hestia  (Vesta),  Demeter  (Ceres),  and  Hera  (Juno).  To 
prevent  the  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy  which  had  been  commu¬ 
nicated  to  him  by  his  parents,  that,  like  his  father,  he  too 
would  be  dethroned  by  his  youngest  born,  Kronos  swallowed 
his  first  five  children  apparently  as  each  came  into  the  world. 
But  when  the  sixth  child  appeared,  Rhea,  his  wife,  determined 
to  save  it,  and  succeeded  in  duping  her  husband  by  giving 
him  a  stone  (perhaps  rudely  hewn  into  the  figure  of  an  infant) 
wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  which  he  swallowed,  believing 
he  had  got  rid  of  another  danger. 

While  the  husband  was  being  deceived  in  this  fashion,  Zeus, 
the  newly-born  child,  was  conveyed  to  the  island  of  Crete, 
and  there  concealed  in  a  cave  on  Mount  Ida.  The  nymphs 
Adrastea  and  Ida  tended  and  nursed  him,  the  goat  Amalthea 
supplied  him  with  milk,  bees  gathered  honey  for  him,  and  in 
the  meantime,  lest  his  infantile  cries  should  reach  the  ears  of 
Kronos,  Rhea’s  servants,  the  Kuretes,  were  appointed  to 
keep  up  a  continual  noise  and  din  in  the  neighbourhood  by 
dancing  and  clashing  their  swords  and  shields. 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


3° 


When  Zeus  had  grown  to  manhood  he  succeeded  by  the  aid 
of  Gaea,  or  perhaps  of  Metis,  in  persuading  Kronos  to 
yield  back  into  the  light  the  sons  whom  he  had  swallowed  and 
the  stone  which  had  been  given  him  in  deceit.  The  stone 
was  placed  at  Delphi  as  a  memorial  for  all  time.  The  libe¬ 
rated  gods  joined  their  brethren  in  a  league  to  drive  their  fa¬ 
ther  from  the  throne  and  set  Zeus  in  his  place.  This  was 
done ;  but  the  change  of  government,  though  acquiesced  in 
by  the  principal  deities,  was  not  to  be  brooked  by  the  Titans, 
who  with  the  exception  of  Okeanos  proceeded  to  war.  The 
seat  of  war  was  Thessaly,  with  its  wild  natural  features  sug¬ 
gestive  of  a  conflict  in  which  huge  rocks  had  been  torn  from 
mountain  sides  and  shattered  by  the  violence  with  which  they 
had  been  thrown  in  combat.  The  party  of  Zeus  had  its  posi¬ 
tion  on  Mount  Olympos,  the  Titans  on  Mount  Othrys.  The 
struggle  lasted  many  years,  all  the  might  which  the  Olympians 
could  bring  to  bear  being  useless  until,  on  the  advice  of  Gaea, 
Zeus  set  free  the  Kyklopes  and  Hekatoncheires,  of  whom  the 
former  fashioned  thunderbolts  for  him,  while  the  latter  ad¬ 
vanced  on  his  side  with  force  equal  to  the  shock  of  an  earth¬ 
quake.  The  earth  trembled  down  to  lowest  Tartaros  as  Zeus 
now  appeared  with  his  terrible  weapon  and  new  allies.  Old 
Chaos  thought  his  hour  had  come,  as  from  a  continuous  blaze 
of  thunderbolts  the  earth  took  fire  and  the  waters  seethed  in 
the  sea.  The  rebels  were  partly  slain  or  consumed,  and  partly 
hurled  into  deep  chasms,  with  rocks  and  hills  reeling  after 
them,  and  consigning  them  to  a  life  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
earth.  The  cause  of  Kronos  was  thus  lost  for  ever,  and  the 
right  of  Zeus  to  rule  established  for  all  time. 

The  island  of  Crete,  where  civilization  appears  to  have 
dawned  earlier  than  elsewhere  in  Greece,  and  where  the  story 


i 


/ 


SATURNUS. 


31 


of  the  secret  up-bringing  of  Zeus  was  made  the  most  of,  was 
the  principal  centre  of  the  worship  of  Kronos.  Here,  how¬ 
ever,  and  in  Attica,  as  well  as  in  several  other  districts  of 
Greece,  it  was  less  as  the  grim  god  who  had  devoured  his  chil¬ 
dren  that  he  was  worshipped  than  as  the  maturer  and  ripener, 
the  god  of  harvest,  who  sends  riches  and  blessings,  prosperity 
and  gladness.  So  it  happened  that  his  festivals  in  Greece,  the 
Kronia,  and  the  corresponding  Saturnalia  in  Italy,  were 
of  that  class  which  imposed  no  restraint  on  the  mirth  and 
pleasure  of  those  present,  and  seemed  like  a  reminiscence  of 
an  age  when  under  the  rule  of  Kronos  there  had  been  a  per¬ 
petual  harvest  time  on  earth.  As  the  devourer  of  his  children 
Kronos  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  Phoenician  Moloch, 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  this  phase  of  his  character  ori¬ 
ginated  in  Crete,  where  the  influence  of  Phoenician  settlers 
had  been  felt  from  very  remote  times.  It  is  also  to  be  noted 
that  his  wife  Rhea  enjoyed  a  very  early  and  wide-spread  wor¬ 
ship  in  Asia  Minor. 

The  scene  where  Rhea  presents  the  stone  carefully  wrapped  up  to  her  hus¬ 
band  as  he  sits  on  his  thronq,  was  the  subject  of  a  sculpture  executed  for  Pla- 
taeae  by  Praxiteles  (Pausanias  ix.  2,  7),  from  which  it  is  possible  that  the 

s 

relief  may  have  been  made  which' is  represented  in  Plate  I,  and  is  now  in  the 
Capitoline  Museum,  Rome.  The  thoughtful  attitude  of  Kronos,  and  espe¬ 
cially  the  veiled  head,  seem  to  indicate  a  plotting  mind,  while  the  sickle  in  his 
left  hand  is  emblematical  of  his  function  as  god  of  harvest,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  memorial  of  the  deed  he  wrought  upon  his  father  Uranos.  The  war 
with  the  Titans  (Titanomachia)  was  superseded  in  popular  estimation  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Euripides  by  the  Gigantomachia,  or  war  of  Giants,  which 
will  be  described  in  connection  with  Zeus.  Artists  following  the  popular  taste 
neglected  the  former  altogether  as  a  source  of  subjects. 

SATURNUS, 

According  to  the  popular  belief  of  the  Romans,  made  his 
first  appearance  in  Italy  at  a  time  when  Janus  was  reigning 


3  2 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


king  of  the  fertile  region  that  stretches  along  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber  on  either  side.  Presenting  himself  to  Janus,  and  being 
kindly  received,  he  proceeded  to  instruct  the  subjects  of  the 
latter  in  agriculture,  gardening,  and  many  other  arts  then 
quite  unknown  to  them:  as,  for  example,  how  to  train  and 
nurse  the  vine,  and  how  to  tend  and  cultivate  fruit-trees. 
By  such  means  he  at  length  raised  the  people  from  a  rude 
and  comparatively  barbarous  condition  to  one  of  order  and 
peaceful  occupations,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  every¬ 
where  held  in  high  esteem,  and  in  course  of  time  was  selected 
by  Janus  to  share  with  him  the  government  of  the  kingdom, 
which  thereupon  assumed  the  name  of  Saturnia,  ‘  a  land 
of  seed  and  fruit.’  The  period  of  Saturn’s  government  was 
in  later  times  sung  of  by  poets  as  a  happy  time  when  'sorrows 
and  cares  of  life  were  unknown,  when  innocence,  freedom, 
and  gladness  reigned  throughout  the  land,  in  such  a  degree 
as  to  deserve  the  title  of  the  golden  age.  Greek  mythology 
also  has  its  golden  age,  said  to  have  occurred  during  the 
reign  of  Kronos,  and  this,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other 
circumstance,  led  to  the  identification  of  Saturnus  and  Kronos, 
in  spite  of  the  real  difference  between  the  two  deities.  The 
name  of  Saturn’s  wife  was  Ops. 

Once  a  year,  in  the  month  of  December,  the  Romans  held 
a  festival  called  Saturnalia  in  his  honour.  It  lasted  from 
five  to  seven  days,  and  was  accompanied  by  amusements  of 
all  kinds.  During  those  days  the  ordinary  distinctions  were 
done  away  with  between  master  and  servant  or  slave.  No 
assemblies  were  held  to  discuss  public  affairs,  and  no  punish¬ 
ments  for  crime  were  inflicted.  Servants  or  slaves  went  about 
dressed  like  their  masters,  and  received  from  them  costly 
presents.  Children  received  from  their  parents  or  relatives 


' 


■ 


* 


' 


II 


RHEA. 


33 


presents  of  pictures,  probably  of  a  gaudy  type,  purchased  in 
the  street  where  the  picture  dealers  lived. 

There  was  a  temple  of  Saturn  in  Rome,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Capitoline  Hill,  containing  a  figure  of  him  with  his  feet 
wrapped  round  with  pieces  of  woollen  cloth,  which  could  only 
be  removed  during  the  festival  of  the  Saturnalia.  In  one 
hand  he  held  a  curved  garden-knife,  as  a  sign  of  his  having 
been  the  first  to  teach  the  people  how  to  trim  the  vine  and 
olive.  In  this  temple  were  preserved  the  state  chest  and  the 
standards  of  the  army. 


RHEA. 

(PLATES  I.  AND  II.) 

As  Uranos,  the  representative  of  the  fertilizing  force  in 
nature,  was  superseded  by  Kronos  the  representative  of  a 
ripening  force,  so  Gaea,  the  primitive  goddess  of  the  earth 
with  its  productive  plains  gave  way  to  Rhea,  a  goddess  of  the 
earth  with  its  mountains  and  forests.  Gaea  had  been  the 
mother  of  the  powerful  Titans.  Rhea  was  the  mother  of  gods 
less  given  to  feats  of  strength,  but  more  highly  gifted: 
Pluto,  Poseidon,  and  Zeus,  Hera,  Demeter,  and 
Hestia.  Her  titles — as  for  example,  Dindumene  and 
Berekuntia — were  derived  for  the  most  part  from  the  names 
of  mountains  in  Asia  Minor,  particularly  those  of  Phrygia 
and  Lydia,  her  worship  having  been  intimately  associated 
with  the  early  civilization  of  these  countries.  There  her  name 
was  Kybele  or  Kybebe,  which  also,  from  its  being  employed 
to  designate  her  sanctuaries  (Kybela)  in  caves  or  mountain 
sides,  points  to  her  character  as  a  mountain  goddess. 

3 


34 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


The  lofty  hills  of  Asia  Minor,  while  sheltering  on  their 
cavernous  sides  wild  animals,  such  as  the  panther  and  lion, 
which  it  was  her  delight  to  tame,  also  looked  down  on 
many  flourishing  cities  which  it  was  her  duty  to  protect.  In 
this  latter  capacity  she  wore  a  mural  crown,  and  was  styled 
Mater  turrita.  But  though  herself  identified  with  peaceful 
civilization,  her  worship  was  always  distinguished  by  wild  and 
fantastic  excitement,  her  priests  and  devotees  rushing  through 
the  woods  at  night  with  torches  burning,  maiming  and 
wounding  each  other,  and  producing  all  the  din  that  was  pos¬ 
sible  from  the  clashing  of  cymbals,  the  shrill  notes  of  pipes, 
and  the  frantic  voice  of  song.  To  account  for  this  peculiarity 
of  her  worship,  which  must  have  been  intended  to  com¬ 
memorate  some  great  sorrow,  the  story  was  told  of  how  she 
had  loved  the  young  Phrygian  shepherd,  Attis,  whose  extra¬ 
ordinary  beauty  had  also  won  the  heart  of  the  king’s  daughter 
of  Pessinus ;  how  he  was  destined  to  marry  the  princess,  and 
how  the  goddess,  suddenly  appearing,  spread  terror  and  con¬ 
sternation  among  the  marriage  guests.  Attis  escaped  to  the 
mountains,  maimed  himself,  and  died  beside  a  pine  tree,  into 
which  his  soul  transmigrated,  while  from  his  blood  sprang 
violets  like  a  wreath  round  the  tree.  The  goddess  implored 
Zeus  to  restore  her  lover.  This  could  not  be.  But  so  much 
was  granted  that  his  body  should  never  decay,  that  his  hair 
should  always  grow,  and  that  his  little  Anger  should  always 
move.  The  pine  was  a  symbol  of  winter  and  sadness,  the 
violet  of  spring  and  its  hopeful  beauty. 

The  first  priests  of  Rhea-Kybele  were  the  Kuretes  and 
Korybantes,  for  whom  it  was  also  claimed  that  they  had  been 
the  first  beings  of  mere  human  form  and  capacity  that  had 
appeared  on  the  earth,  having  sprung  from  the  mountain  side 


Zeus,  or  Jupiter. 


ZEUS  OR  JUPITER. 


35 


like  trees.  The  great  centre  of  her  worship  was  always  at 
Pessinus  in  Phrygia,  under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Dindymon, 
on  which  was  a  cave  containing  what  was  believed  to  be  the 
oldest  of  her  sanctuaries.  Within  this  sanctuary  was  the 
tomb  of  Attis,  and  an  ancient  image  of  the  goddess  in  the 
shape  of  a  stone,  which  was  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven. 
The  first  temple  at  Pessinus  had  been  erected,  it  was  said,  by 
King  Midas.  Successive  rulers  of  Phrygia  maintained  and 
endowed  it  so  liberally  that  it  continued  to  be  a  place  of  im¬ 
portance  long  after  Phrygian  civilization  had  sunk.  Spread¬ 
ing  from  this  centre,  the  worship  of  Kybele  took  hold  first  in 
the  neighbouring  towns  of  Sardis,  Magnesia,  Smyrna,  Ephe¬ 
sus,  Lampsakos,  and  Kyzikos  ;  thence  to  Athens,  and  in  later 
times  to  the  mountainous  district  of  Arcadia,  where  it  was 
locally  believed  that  Zeus  had  been  born  and  that  the  creation 
of  mankind  had  taken  place. 

In  Plate  II.  Rhea  is  represented  as  Mater  turrita,  or  turrigera.  In  Plate  I. 
she  appears  as  the  goddess  of  mountain  tops,  riding  on  a  lion,  and  holding  a 
sceptre  in  one  hand  and  a  cymbal  in  the  other ;  beside  her  the  moon  and  a 
star.  At  other  times  she  is  seated  on  a  throne  with  a  lion  in  her  lap,  or  with 
a  lion  at  each  side,  or  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  lions  or  panthers. 

ZEUS  or  JUPITER. 

(PLATES  II.  AND  III.) 

iThird  and  last  on  the  throne  of  the  highest  god  sat  Zeus. 
The  fertile  imagination  of  early  times  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
placed  his  abode  on  Mount  Olympos  in  Thessaly.  But  a 
later  and  more  practical  age  usually  conceived  him  as  in¬ 
habiting  a  region  above  the  sky,  where  the  source  of  all  light 
was  supposed  to  be.  He  was  god  of  the  broad  light  of  day. 


36 


\ 

DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


as  his  name  implies,  had  control  of  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
heavens,  and  accordingly  sudden  changes  of  weather,  the 
gathering  of  clouds,  and,  more  than  all,  the  burst  of  a  thun¬ 
der-storm  made  his  presence  felt  as  a  supernatural  being  in¬ 
terested  in  the  affairs  of  mankind.  Hence  such  titles  as 
‘cloud-gatherer,’  ‘god  of  the  murky  cloud,’  ‘thunderer,’  and 
‘mighty  thunderer,’  were  those  by  which  he  was  most  fre.- 
quently  invoked.  On  the  other  hand,  the  serenity  and  bound¬ 
less  extent  of  the  sky  over  which  he  ruled,  combined  with  the 
never-failing  recurrence  of  day,  led  him  to  be  regarded  as  an 
everlasting  god:  ‘Zeus  who  was  and  is  and  shall  be.’  To  in¬ 
dicate  this  feature  of  his  character  he  was  styled  Kronides 
or  Kronion,  a  title  which,  though  apparently  derived  from 
his  father  Ivronos,  must  have  assumed  even  at  a  very  early 
time  a  special  significance ;  otherwise  we  should  expect  to 
find  it  applied  also  to  his  two  brothers,  Poseidon  and  Hades. 

The  eagle  soaring  beyond  vision  seemed  to  benefit  by  its 
approach  to  Zeus,  and  came  to  be  looked  on  as  sacred  to  him. 
Similarly  high  mountain  peaks  derived  a  sanctity  from  their 
nearness  to  the  region  of  light,  and  were  everywhere  in 
Greece  associated  with  his  worship,  many  of  them  furnishing 
titles  by  which  he  was  locally  known — as,  for  instance,  Aet- 
naeos,  a  title  derived  from  Mount  ZEtna  in  Sicily,  or  Ata- 
byrios,  from  a  mountain  in  Rhodes.  Altars  to  him  and 
even  temples  were  erected  on  hill  tops,  to  reach  which  by 
long  toiling,  and  then  to  see  the  earth  spread  out  small  be¬ 
neath,  was  perhaps  the  best  preparation  for  approaching  him 
in  a  proper  spirit.  In  contrast  with  this,  and  as  testimony  to 
the  saying  of  Hesiod  that  Zeus  Kronides  lived  not  only  in 
the  pure  air  but  also  at  the  roots  of  the  earth  and  in  men, 
we  find  the  low  ground  of  Do  dona  in  Epiros  viewed  with 


ZEUS  OR  JUPITER. 


37 


peculiar  solemnity  as  a  spot  where  direct  communion  was  to 
be  enjoyed  with  him.  A  wind  was  heard  to  rustle  in  the 
branches  of  a  sacred  oak  when  the  god  had  any  communica¬ 
tion  to  make,  the  task  of  interpreting  it  devolving  on  a  priest¬ 
hood  called  Selli.  A  spring  rose  at  the  foot  of  the  oak,  and 
sacred  pigeons  rested  among  its  leaves,  the  story  being  that 
they  had  first  drawn  attention  to  the  oracular  powers  of  the 
tree.  It  should  here  be  noted  that  the  real  importance  of  this 
worship  of  Zeus  at  Dodona  belonged  to  exceedingly  early 
times,  and  that  in  the  primitive  religion  of  the  Italian, 
German,  and  Celtic  nations  the  oak  was  regarded  with  similar 
reverence. 

As  the  highest  go^,  and  throughout  Greece  worshipped  as 

such,  he  was  styled  the  father  of  gods  and  men,  the  ruler  and 

/ 

preserver  of  the  world.  He  was  believed  to  be  possessed  of 
every  form  of  power,  endued  with  wisdom,  and  in  his  do¬ 
minion  over  the  human  race  partial  to  justice,  and  with  no 
limit  to  his  goodness  and  love.  Zeus  orders  the  alternation 
of  day  and  night,  the  seasons  succeed  at  his  command,  the 
winds  obey  him,  now  he  gathers,  now  scatters  the  clouds,  and 
bids  the  gentle  rain  fall  to  fertilize  the  fields  and  meadows. 
He  watches  over  the  administration  of  law  and  justice  in  the 
state,  lends  majesty  to  kings,  and  protects  them  in  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  their  sovereignty.  He  observes  attentively  the  general 
intercourse  and  dealings  of  men — everywhere  demanding  and 
rewarding  uprightness,  truth,  faithfulness,  and  kindness ; 
everywhere  punishing  wrong,  falseness,  faithlessness,  and 
cruelty.  As  the  eternal  father  of  men,  he  was  believed  to  be 
kindly  at  the  call  of  the  poorest  and  most  forsaken.  The 
homeless  beggar  looked  to  him  as  a  merciful  guardian  who 
punished  the  heartless,  and  delighted  to  reward  pity  and  sym- 


3» 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


pathy.  To  illustrate  his  rule  on  earth  we  would  here  give  a 
familiar  story. 

Philemon  and  Baukis,  an  aged  couple  of  the  poorer 
class,  were  living  peacefully  and  full  of  piety  towards  the 
gods  in  their  cottage  in  Phrygia,  when  Zeus,  who  often  visited 
the  earth,  disguised,  to  inquire  into  the  behaviour  of  men, 
paid  a  visit,  in  passing  through  Phrygia  on  such  a  journey,  to 
these  poor  old  people,  and  was  received  by  them  very  kindly 
as  a  weary  traveller,  which  he  pretended  to  be.  Bidding  him  * 
welcome  to  the  house,  they  set  about  preparing  for  their 
guest,  who  was  accompanied  by  Hermes,  as  excellent  a  meal 
as  they  could  afford,  and  for  this  purpose  were  about  to  kill 
the  only  goose  they  had  left,  when  Zeus  interfered ;  for  he 
was  touched  by  their  kindliness  and  genuine  piety,  and  that 
all  the  more  because  he  had  observed  among  the  other  in¬ 
habitants  of  the  district  nothing  but  cruelty  of  disposition 
and  a  habit  of  reproaching  and  despising  the  gods.  To 
punish  this  conduct  he  determined  to  visit  the  country  with  a 
destroying  flood,  but  to  save  from  it  Philemon  and  Baukis, 
the  good  aged  couple,  and  to  reward  them  in  a  striking  man¬ 
ner.  To  this  end  he  revealed  himself  to  them  before  opening 
the  gates  of  the  great  flood,  transformed  their  poor  cottage 
on  the  hill  into  a  splendid  temple,  installed  the  aged  pair  as 
his  priest  and  priestess,  and  granted  their  prayer  that  they 
might  both  die  together.  When  after  many  years  death  over¬ 
took  them  they  were  changed  into  two  trees,  that  grew  side 
by  side  in  the  neighborhood — an  oak  and  a  linden. 

While  in  adventures  of  this  kind  the  highest  god  of  the 
Greeks  appears  on  the  whole  in  a  character  worthy  of  admira¬ 
tion,  it  will  be  seen  that  many  other  narratives  represent  him 
as  labouring  under  human  weaknesses  and  error.  The  first 


ZEUS  OR  JUPITER. 


39 


wife  of  Zeus  was  Metis  (Cleverness),  a  daughter  of  the 
friendly  Titan  Okeanos.  But  as  Fate,  a  dark  and  omnis¬ 
cient  being,  had  predicted  that  Metis  would  bear  Zeus  a  son 
who  should  surpass  his  father  in  power,  Zeus  followed  in  a 
manner  the  example  of  his  father  Kronos,  by  swallowing  Metis 
before  she  was  delivered  of  her  child,  and  then  from  his  own 
head  gave  birth  to  the  goddess  of  wisdom,  Pallas  Athene  (Mi¬ 
nerva).  Next  he  married,  it  is  said,  but  only  for  a  time,  The¬ 
mis  (Justice),  and  became  the  father  of  Astraea  and  the 
Horae.  His  chief  love  was,  however,  always  for  Hera  (Juno,) 
with  her  many  charms,  who,  after  withstanding  his  entreaties 
for  a  time,  at  length  gave  way,  and  the  divine  marriage  took 
place  amid  great  rejoicing,  not  on  the  part  of  the  gods  of  hea¬ 
ven  alone,  for  those  other  deities  also,  to  whom  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  world  had  been  in  various  departments  delegated, 
had  been  invited,  and  went  gladly  to  the  splendid  ceremony. 

Hera  became  the  mother  of  Hebe,  Ares  (Mars),  and 
Hephaestos  (Vulcan).  Zeus  did  not,  however,  remain  con¬ 
stant  and  true  to  the  marriage  with  his  sister,  but  secretly  in¬ 
dulged  a  passion  for  other  goddesses,  and  often,  under  the  dis¬ 
guise  of  various  forms  and  shapes,  approached  even  the  daugh¬ 
ters  of  men.  Herg.  gave  way^to  indignation  when  she  found 
out  such  doings.  From  secret  intercourse  of  this  kind  De¬ 
meter  (Ceres)  bore  him  Persephone  (Proserpina) ;  Leto 
(Latona)  became  the  mother  of  Apollo  and  Artemis 
(Diana)  ;  Dione,  the  mother  of  Aphrodite  (Venus)  ;  Mne¬ 
mosyne,  of  the  Muses ;  Eurynome,  of  the  Charites 
(Graces);  Semele,  of  Dionysos  (Bacchus);  Maia,  of 
Hermes  (Mercury) ;  Alkmene,  of  Herakles  (Hercules) ; 
several  of  the  demigods,  of  whom  we  shall  afterwards  speak 
being  sons  of  Zeus  by  other  and  different  mothers. 


40 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


These  numerous  love  passages-  of  Zeus  (and  other  gods  as 
well),  related  by  ancient  poets,  appear  to  us,  as  it  is  known 
they  appeared  to  the  right-thinking  men  amongst  the  ancients 
themselves,  unbecoming  of  the  great  ruler  of  the  universe. 
The  wonder  is  how  such  stories  came  into  existence ;  unless 
indeed  this  be  accepted  as  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  their 
origin, — that  they  are  simply  the  different  versions  of  one 
great  myth  of  the  marriage  of  Zeus,  peculiar  in  early  times  to 
the  different  districts  of  Greece,  each  version  representing 
him  as  having  but  one  wife,  and  being  constant  to  her.  Her 
name  and  the  stories  connected  with  their  married  life  would 
be  more  or  less  different  in  each  case.  In  after-time,  when 
the  various  tribes  of  the  Greeks  became  united  into  one  peo¬ 
ple,  and  the  various  myths  that  had  sprung  up  independently 
concerning  Zeus  came,  through  the  influence  of  poets  and  by 
other  means,  to  be  known  to  the  whole  nation,  we  may  ima¬ 
gine  that  the  only  way  that  presented  itself  of  uniting  them 
all  into  one  consistent  narrative  was  by  degrading  all  the 
wives,  except  Hera,  to  the  position  of  temporary  acquaint¬ 
ances.  It  is,  however,  unfortunate  that  we  cannot  now  trace 
every  one  of  his  acquaintances  of  this  sort  back  to  a  primitive 
position  of  sufficiently  great  local  importance.  At  the  same 
time,  enough  is  known  to  justify  this  principle  of  interpreta¬ 
tion,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  apparent  improprieties  in 
the  conduct  of  Zeus,  but  also  of  the  other  deities  wherever 
they  occur.  Properly  Zeus  could  have  but  one  wife,  such  be¬ 
ing  the  limit  of  marriage  among  the  Greeks. 

Of  the  several  localities  in  Greece  where  the  worship  of 
Zeus  was  conducted  with  unusual  ceremony  and  devotion,  the 
two  most  deserving  of  attention  are  Athens  and  Olympia.  In 
Athens  the  change  of  season  acting  on  the  temperament  of 


ZEUS  OR  JUPITER. 


41 


the  people  seemed  to  produce  a  change  in  their  feelings  to¬ 
wards  the  god.  For  from  early  spring  and  throughout  the 
summer  they  called  him  the  friendly  god  (Zeus  Meilichios), 
offered  public  sacrifices  at  his  altars,  and  on  three  occasions 
held  high  festival  in  his  honour.  But  as  the  approach  of  win¬ 
ter  made  itself  felt,  thoughts  of  his  anger  returned,  he  was 
called  the  cruel  god  (Zeus  Maemaktes),  and  an  endeavour 
was  made  to  propitiate  him  by  a  festival  called  Maemakteria. 
At  Olympia,  in  Elis,  a  festival,  which  from  an  early  period 
had  assumed  national  importance,  was  held  in  his  honour  in 
the  month  of  July  (Hekatombaeon)  every  fifth  year,  that 
is,  after  the  lapse  of  four  clear  years.  It  lasted  at  least  five 
and  perhaps  seven  days,  commencing  with  sacrifice  at  the 
great  altar  of  Zeus,  in  which  the  deputies  from  the  various 
states,  with  their  splendid  retinues,  took  part.  This  ceremony 
over,  a  series  of  competitions  took  place  in  foot-racing,  leap¬ 
ing  from  a  raised  platform  with  weights  ( halteres )  in  the  hands 
to  give  impetus,  throwing  the  disk  (a  circular  plate  of  metal 
or  stone  weighing  about  8  lb.),  boxing  with  leather  thongs 
twisted  round  the  arm  and  sometimes  with  metal  rings  in  the 
hands,  horse-racing,  chariot-racing  with  two  or  four  horses, 
and  lastly,  a  competition  of  musicians  and  poets.  The  lists 
were  open  to  all  free-born  Greeks,  except  such  as  had  been 
convicted  of  crime,  or  such  as  had  entailed  in  former  contests 
the  penalty  of  a  fine  and  had  refused  to  pay  it.  Intending 
competitors  were  required  to  give  sureties  that  they  had  gone 
through  a  proper  course  of  training,  and  that  they  would  abide 
by  the  decision  of  the  judges.  Slaves  and  foreigners  might 
look  on,  but  the  presence  of  married  women  was  forbidden. 
The  entire  management  of  the  festival  was  in  the  hands  of  a 
board  elected  from  their  own  number  by  the  people  of  Elis. 


42 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


The  plain  of  Olympia,  where  this  national  meeting  in  honour 
of  Zeus  was  held,  is  now  a  waste ;  but  some  idea  may  still  be 
gathered  from  the  description  of  Pausanias  of  its  magnificent 
temple  and  the  vast  number  of  statues  that  studded  the  sacred 
grove.  Within  the  temple  was  a  statue  of  the  god,  in  gold 
and  ivory,  the  work  of  Pheidias,  the  most  renowned  of  an¬ 
cient  sculptors.  It  was  forty  feet  in  height,  and  for  its  beauty 
and  grandeur  was  reckoned  one  of  the  Seven  Wonders* 
of  the  ancient  world. 

As  some  would  have  it,  these  games  had  been  established 
by  Zeus  himself  to  commemorate  his  victory  over  the  Titans, 
and  even  the  gods  in  early  times  are  said  to  have  taken  part 
in  the  contests.  The  people  of  Elis  maintained  that  the  fes¬ 
tival  had  been  founded  by  Pelops,  while  others  ascribed  that 
honour  to  Herakles.  The  usual  method  of  reckoning  time 
was  by  the  interval  between  these  festivals,  one  Olympiad 
being  equal  to  four  years.  The  first  festival  from  which  the 
reckoning  started,  as  ours  does  from  the  birth  of  Christ,  oc¬ 
curred  in  the  year  77 6  b.  c. 

The  birth  and  early  life  of  Zeus,  up  to  the  period,  when, 
after  a  long  and  fierce  war  around  Olympos,  he  defeated  the 
Titans  and  established  his  right  to  reign  in  the  place  of  his 
father  Ivronos,  has  already  been  related.  That  his  two 

The  seven  wonders  of  the  ancient  world  were — (i)  The  Pyramids  of 
Egypt ;  (2)  The  Walls  of  Babylon;  (3)  The  Hanging  Gardens  of  Babylon ; 
(4)  The  Temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus;  (5)  The  Statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia; 
(6)  The  Mausoleum  at  Halicarnassus;  (7)  The  Colossus  at  Rhodes;  all 
monuments  of  art  of  extraordinary  beauty  or  stupendous  dimensions.  In 
statues  of  gold  and  ivory,  such  as  that  of  Zeus  at  Olympia,  and  many  others, 
the  face  and  nude  parts  of  the  body  were  made  of  ivory,  while  the  hair  and 
drapery  were  reproduced  in  gold,  richly  worked  in  parts  with  enamel.  We 
obtain  an  idea  of  the  expense  of  such  splendid  statues,  from  the  statement  that 
a  single  lock  of  the  hair  of  Zeus  at  Olympia  cost  about  Z25°  °f  our  money. 


ZEUS  OR  JUPITER. 


43 


brothers,  to  whose  assistance  he  had  been  greatly  indebted 
during  the  war,  might  have  a  share  in  the  management  of  the 
world,  lots  were  cast ;  and  to  Poseidon  fell  the  control  of  the 
tea  and  rivers,  while  Hades  obtained  the  government  of  the 
world  under  the  earth.  Opposition,  however,  on  the  part  of 
the  kindred  of  Ivronos  had  not  yet  ceased,  and  the  new  dy¬ 
nasty  of  gods  had  to  encounter  a  fresh  outbreak  of  war  even 
more  terrible  than  had  been  that  of  the  Titans,  the  enemy  be¬ 
ing  in  this  case  the  Giants,  a  race  of  beings  sprung  from  the 
blood  of  Uranos.  The  Giants  took  up  their  position  on  the 
peninsula  of  Pallene,  which  is  separated  from  Mount  Olympos 
by  a  bay.  Their  king  and  leader  was  Porphyrion,  their 
most  powerful  combatant  Alkyoneus,  against  whom  Zeus 
and  Athene  took  up  arms  in  vain.  Their  mother  Earth  had 
made  the  Giants  proof  against  all  the  weapons  of  the  gods — 
not,  however,  against  the  weapons  of  mortals;  and  knowing 
this  Athene  brought  Herakles  on  the  scene.  Sun  and  moon 
ceased  to  shine  at  the  command  of  Zeus,  and  the  herb  was  cut 
down  which  had  furnished  the  giants  with  a  charm  against 
wounds.  The  huge  Alkyoneus,  who  had  hurled  great  rocks 
at  the  Olympians,  fell  by  the  arrows  of  Herakles;  and  Por¬ 
phyrion  while  in  the  act  of  seizing  Hera,  was  overpowered. 
Of  the  others,  Pallas  and  Enkelados  were  slain  by  Athene, 
the  boisterous  Polybotes  fled,  but  on  reaching  the  island  of 
Kos  was  overtaken  by  a  rock  hurled  at  him  by  Poseidon  and 
buried  under  it,  while  Ephialtes  had  to  yield  to  Apollo, 
Rhoetos  to  Dionysos  and  Klytios  to  Hecate  or  Hephaes- 
tos.  To  the  popular  mind  this  war  with  the  Giants  had  a 
greater  interest  than  the  Titanomachia.  Ultimately  the  two 
were  confounded  with  each  other. 

These  wars  over,  there  succeeded  a  period  which  was  called 


44 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


the  Silver  Age  on  earth.  Men  were  rich  then,  as  in  the 
Golden  Age  under  the  rule  of  Kronos,  and  lived  in  plenty; 
but  still  they  wanted  the  innocence  and  contentment  which 
were  the  true  sources  of  human  happiness  in  the  former  age ; 
and,  accordingly,  while  living  in  luxury  and  delicacy,  they 
became  overbearing  in  their  manners  to  the  highest  degree, 
were  never  satisfied,  and  forgot  the  gods,  to  whom,  in  their 
confidence  of  prosperity  and  comfort,  they  denied  the  rever¬ 
ence  they  owed.  To  punish  them,  and  as  a  warning  against 
such  habits,  Zeus  swept  them  away  and  concealed  them  under 
the  earth,  where  they  continued  to  live  as  daemons  or  spirits, 
not  so  powerful  as  the  spirits  of  the  men  of  the  Golden  Age, 
but  yet  respected  by  those  who  came  after  them. 

Then  followed  the  Bronze  Age,  a  period  of  constant  quar¬ 
relling  and  deeds  of  violence.  Instead  of  cultivated  lands  and 
a  life  of  peaceful  occupations  and  orderly  habits,  there  came 
a  day  when  everywhere  might  was  right ;  and  men,  big  and 
powerful  as  they  were,  became  physically  worn  out,  and  sank 
into  the  lower  world  without  leaving  a  trace  of  their  having 
existed,  and  without  a'claim  to  a  future  spiritual  life. 

Finally  came  the  Iron  Age,  in  which  enfeebled  mankind 
had  to  toil  for  bread  with  their  hands,  and,  bent  on  gain,  did 
their  best  to  overreach  each  other.  Dike  or  Astraea,  the 
goddess  of  justice  and  good  faith,  modesty  and  truth,  turned 
her  back  on  such  scenes,  and  retired  to  Olympos,  while  Zeus 
determined  to  destroy  the  human  race  by  a  great  flood.  The 
whole  of  Greece  lay  under  water,  and  none  but  Deukalion 
and  his  wife  Pyrrha  were  saved.  Leaving  the  summit  of 
Parnassos,  where  they  had  escaped  the  flood,  they  were 
commanded  by  the  gods  to  become  the  founders  of  a  new 
race  of  men — that  is,  the  present  race.  To  this  end,  it  is  said, 


ZEUS  OR  JUPITER. 


45 


they  cast  around  them  as  they  advanced  stones,  which  pre¬ 
sently  assumed  the  forms  of  men,  who,  when  the  flood  had 
quite  disappeared,  commenced  to  cultivate  the  land  again  and 
spread  themselves  in  all  directions;  but  being  little  better 
than  the  race  that  had  been  destroyed,  they,  too,  often  drew 
down  the  displeasure  of  Zeus  and  suffered  at  his  hands. 

Among  the  Romans  Jupiter  held  a  place  of  honour  cor¬ 
responding  in  some  degree  to  that  held  by  Zeus  among  the 
Greeks.  His  favorite  title  was  Optimus  Maximus.  His  name 
being  of  the  same  derivation  as  that  of  Zeus,  indicates  his 
function  as  god  of  the  broad  light  of  day  and  armed  with  the 
weapon  of  lightning.  Temples  and  altars  were  erected  for 
the  purposes  of  his  worship,  statues  were  raised,  and  public 
festivals  held  in  his  honour.  As  to  sacrifice,  both  he  and 
Zeus  delighted  most  in  bulls.  To  both  the  eagle,  the  oak, 
and  the  olive  were  sacred. 

The  growth  of  religious  feeling  precedes  the  development  of  artistic  faculty- 
in  man,  and  accordingly  we  find  that  in  the  earliest  ages  the  presence  of  a  god 
was  symbolized  only  by  some  natural  object.  In  the  case  of  Zeus  this  was  an 
oak-tree,  while  in  the  case  of  Rhea-Kybele  it  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  stone 
which  was  believed  to  have  fallen  from  heaven.  The  first  artistic  efforts  to 
reproduce  the  image  of  a  god  were  called  xoana,  and  consisted  of  a  pillar 
rudely  shaped  like  a  human  figure  seen  at  a  distance,  the  artist's  attention 
being  mostly  directed  to  the  head.  Of  this  kind  was  the  figure  of  Zeus 
Labrandeus  as  represented  on  the  coins  of  Caria,  the  figure  of  Zeus  with  three 
eyes  at  Argos,  and  the  figure  of  him  without  ears  at  Crete.  Piety  caused  these 
rude  and  strange  images  to  be  retained  till  long  after  the  art  of  sculpture  had 
become  equal  to  the  production  of  imposing  figures.  The  gold  and  ivory 
statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia,  of  which  mention  has  already  been  made,  repre¬ 
sented  him  seated  on  his  throne,  and  some  small  idea  may  still  be  gained  of  it 
from  what  is  no  doubt  a  copy  of  it  on  the  coins  of  Elis.  The  bust  of  plate  iii. , 
known  as  the  Zeus  of  Otricoli,  is  perhaps  the  best  existing  example  of  the  face 
of  Zeus  as  conceived  by  the  Greek  sculptors.  The  attributes  of  Zeus  are  the 
eagle,  a  sceptre,  a  thunderbolt,  and,  in  the  case  of  an  ancient  image  in  Caria, 
an  axe.  He  is  represented  sometimes  with  Hera  by  his  side,  sometimes  with 


46 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


Athene,  or  with  both,  or  with  Athene  and  Herald es.  When  he  leaves  his 
throne  it  is  generally  to  rise  in  might  against  an  enemy  such  as  the  Giants,  and 
in  these  cases  he  is  always  armed  with  the  thunderbolt,  and  either  stands  in  the 
act  of  hurling  it,  or  drives  in  a  chariot  attended  by  other  gods,  as  he  is  fre¬ 
quently  to  be  seen  on  the  ancient  painted  vases.  Another  favourite  subject  on 
these  vases  is  the  birth  of  Athene  from  the  head  of  Zeus.  In  works  of  art  no 
distinction  is  made  between  Zeus  and  Jupiter,  for  this  reason,  that  Rome  had 
no  distinctive  sculpture  of  its  own.  Plate  vii.  represents  the  infancy  of  Zeus 
in  Crete. 


HERA,  or  JUNO, 

(PLATES  IV.  AND  V.), 

Was  a  divine  personification  of  what  may  be  called  the  female 
power  of  the  heavens — that  is,  the  atmosphere,  with  its  fickle 
and  yet  fertilizing  properties;  while  Zeus  represented  those 
properties  of  the  heavens  (hat  appeared  to  be  of  a  male  order. 
To  their  marriage  was  traced  all  the  blessings  of  nature,  and 
when  they  met,  as  on  Mount  Ida  in  a  golden  cloud,  sweet 
fragrant  flowers  sprang  up  around  them.  A  tree  with  golden 
apples  grew  up  at  their  marriage  feast,  and  streams  of  ambro¬ 
sia  flowed  past  their  couch  in  the  happy  island  of  the  west. 
That  marriage  ceremony  took  place,  it  was  believed,  in  spring, 
and  to  keep  up  a  recollection  of  it,  an  annual  festival  was  held 

at  that  season  in  her  honour.  Like  the  sudden  and  violent 

% 

storms,  however,  which  in  certain  seasons  break  the  peaceful¬ 
ness  of  the  sky  of  Greece,  the  meetings  of  this  divine  pair 
often  resulted  in  temporary  quarrels  and  wrangling,  the  .blame 
of  which  was  usually  traced  to  Hera ;  poets,  and  most  of  all 
Homer,  in  the  Iliad,  describing  her  as  frequently  jealous, 
angry,  and  quarrelsome,  her  character  as  lofty  and  proud, 
cold,  and  not  free  from  bitterness.  Of  these  scenes  of  discord 
we  have  several  instances,  as  when  (Iliad  i.  586)  Zeus  actually 


IV 


.1 


HERA  OR  JUNO. 


47 


beat  her,  and  threw  her  son  Hephsetos  out  of  Olympos ;  or 
(Iliad  xv.  1 8)  when,  vexed  at  her  plotting  against  Herakles, 
he  hung  her  out  of  Olympos  with  two  great  weights  (earth 
and  sea)  attached  to  her  feet,  and  her  arms  bound  by  golden 
fetters — an  illustration  of  how  all  the  phenomena  of  the  visible 
sky  were  thought  to  hang  dependent  on  the  highest  god  of 
heaven;  or  again  (Iliad  i.  396)  when  Hera,  with  Poseidon 
and  Athene,  attempted  to  chain  down  Zeus,  and  would  have 
succeeded  had  not  Thetis  brought  to  his  aid  the  sea  giant 
Aegaeon.  As  goddess  of  storms,  Hera  was  consistently  de¬ 
scribed  as  the  mother  of  Ares,  herself  taking  part  in  war  occa¬ 
sionally,  as  against  the  Trojans,  and  enjoying  the  honour  of 
festivals,  accompanied  by  warlike  contests,  as  at  Argos,  where 
the  prize  was  a  sacred  shield. 

Her  favourite  companions,  in  periods  of  peace,  were  the 
Charites  (Graces)  and  the  Horae  (Seasons),  of  which  the 
latter  are  also  found  in  company  of  her  husband.  Her  con¬ 
stant  attendant  was  Iris,  goddess  of  the  rainbow.  The  pea¬ 
cock,  in  its  pride  and  gorgeous  array,  and  the  cuckoo  as  herald 
of  the  spring,  were  sacred  to  her.  In  the  spring-time  occurred 
her  principal  festival,  at  which  the  ceremony  consisted  of  an 
imitation  of  a  wedding,  a  figure  of  the  goddess  being  decked 
out  in  bridal  attire,  and  placed  on  a  couch  of  willow  branches, 
while  wreaths  and  garlands  of  flowers  were  scattered  about, 
because  she  loved  them.  Another  singular  festival  was  held 
in  her  honour  every  fifth  year  at  Olympia  in  Elis,  the  cere¬ 
mony  consisting  in  the  presentation  of  a  splendidly  embroi¬ 
dered  mantle  (j peplos )  to  the  goddess,  and  races  in  which  only 
girls  and  unmarried  women  took  part,  running  with  their  hair 
streaming  down,  and  wearing  short  dresses, — the  judges  on 
the  occasion  being  sixteen  married  women. 


48 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


The  character,  however,  in  which  Hera  was  most  generally 
viewed  was  that  of  queen  of  heaven,  and  as  the  faithful  wife 
of  Zeus  claiming  the  highest  conceivable  respect  and  honour. 
Herself  the  ideal  of  womanly  virtues*  she  made  it  a  principal 
duty  to  protect  them  among  mortals,  punishing  with  severity 
all  trespassers  against  her  moral  law — but,  naturally,  none  so 
much  as  those  who  had  been  objects  of  her  husband’s  affec¬ 
tions— as,  for  instance,  Semele,  the  mother  of  Dionysos,  or 
Alk'mene,  the  mother  of  Herakles.  Her  worship  was  re¬ 
stricted  for  the  most  part  to  women,  who,  according  to  the 
various  stages  of  womanhood,  regarded  her  in  a  different  light : 
some  as  a  bride,  styling  her  Parthenia;  others  as  a  wife, 
with  the  title  of  Gamelia,  Zygia  or  Teleia;  and  others 
again  in  the  character  of  Eileithyia,  as  helpful  at  child¬ 
birth.  Of  th’ese  phases  of  her  life  that  of  bride  was  obviously 
associable  with  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens  in  the  spring¬ 
time,  when  the  return  of  dazzling  light  and  warmth  spread 
everywhere  affectionate  gaiety  and  the  blooming  of  new  life. 
As  queen  of  heaven  and  wife  of  Zeus  she  will  be  found,  in 
connection  with  the  legends  of  Argos  and  its  neighbourhood, 
possessed,  from  motives  of  jealousy,  of  a  hatred  towards  the 

r 

nocturnal  phenomena  of  the  sky,  and  especially  the  moon,  as 
personified  by  the  wandering  Io,  whom  she  placed  under  the 

X 

surveillance  of  Argos,  a  being  with  innumerable  eyes,  and  ap¬ 
parently  a  personification  of  the  starry  system. 

The  town  of  Argos,  with  its  ancient  legends,  which  clearly 
betray  some  powerful  sensitiveness  to  the  phenomena  of  light, 
was  the  oldest  and  always  the  chief  centre  of  this  worship  of 
Hera.  There  was  her  principal  temple,  and  within  it  a  statue 
of  the  goddess,  by  Polykleitos,  which  almost  rivalled  in 
grandeur  and  beauty  the  Zeus  at  Olympia,  by  Pheidias.  Next 


HERA  OR  JUNO. 


49 


came  Samos,  with  its  splendid  temple  erected  for  her  by  Poly- 
krates.  In  Corinth  also,  in  Euboea,  Boeotia,  Crete,  and  even 
in  Lakinion,  in  Italy,  she  had  temples  and  devotees. 

Juno,  the  Roman  equivalent  of  Hera,  was  mostly  regarded 
from  the  maternal  point  of  view,  and  in  accordance  with  that 
frequently,  styled  Lucina,  the  helper  at  child-birth.  Temples 
were  erected  and  festivals  held  in  her  honour — of  the  festivals 
that  called  Matronalia  being  the  chief.  It  was  held  on  the 
i st  of  March  of  each  year,  and  could  only  be  participated  in 
by  women,  who  went  with  girdles  loose,  and  on  the  occasion 
received  presents  from  husbands,  lovers,  or  friends,  making 
presents  in  turn  to  their  servants.  The  spirits  that  guarded 
over  women  were  called  in  early  times  Junones. 

The  image  of  Hera  is  said  to  have  consisted  at  first  of  a  long  pillar,  as  in 
Argos,  and  in  Samos  of  a  plank,  and  to  have  assumed  a  human  form  only  in 
comparatively  late  times.  The  statue  of  her  by  Polykleitos,  mentioned  above, 
was  of  gold  and  ivory  and  of  colossal  size.  It  represented  her  seated  on  a 
throne,  holding  in  one  hand  a  pomegranate,  the  symbol  of  marriage,  and  in 
the  other  a  sceptre  on  which  sat  a  cuckoo.  On  her  head  was  a  crown  orna¬ 
mented  with  figures  of  the  Charites  (Graces)  and  Horae.  We  can  still  in 
some  measure  recall  the  appearance  of  the  statue  from  the  marble  head  known 
as  the  Juno  Ludovisi  (on  plate  iv.),  from  the  coins  of  Argos,  and  from  several 
ancient  heads  in  marble  of  great  beauty.  Praxiteles  made  a  colossal  statue  of 
her  in  the  character  of  the  protectress  of  marriage  rites,  and  also  a  group  of 
her  seated,  with  Athene  and  Hebe  standing  beside  her.  On  the  painted  vases 
the  scene  in  which  she  most  frequently  occurs  is  that  where  she  appears  before 
Paris  to  be  judged  of  her  beauty. 


4 


5« 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


POSEIDON,- OR  NEPTUNE. 

(plate  V.) 

It  has  already  been  told  how,  when  all  the  resources  had 
failed  which  the  Titans  could  bring  to  bear  for  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  Kronos  to  the  throne,  the  government  of  the  world 
was  divided  by  lot  among  his  three  sons,  Zeus,  Poseidon, 
Hades.  To  Zeus  fell,  besides  a  general  supremacy,  the  con¬ 
trol  of  the  heavens ;  and  we  have  seen  how  he  and  his  con¬ 
sort  Hera,  representing  the  phenomena  of  that  region,  were 
conceived  as  divine  persons  possessed  of  a  character  and  per¬ 
forming  actions  such  as  were  suggested  by  those  phenomena. 
To  Poseidon  fell  the  control  of  the  element  of  water,  and  he 
in  like  manner  was  conceived  as  a  god,  in  whose  character 
and  actions  were  reflected  the  phenomena  of  that  element, 
whether  as  the  broad  navigable  sea,  or  as  the  cloud  which 
gives  fertility  to  the  earth,  growth  to  the  grain  and  vine,  or 
as  the  fountain  which  refreshes  man,  cattle,  and  horses.  A 
suitable  symbol  of  his  power,  therefore,  was  the  horse,  ad¬ 
mirably  adapted  as  it  is  both  for  labour  and  battle,  whilst  its 
swift  springing  movement  compares  finely  with  the  advance 
of  a  foaming  wave  of  the  sea.  “  He  yokes  to  the  chariot/' 
sings  Homer  in  the  Iliad,  “  his  swift  steeds,  with  feet  of  brass 
and  manes  of  gold,  and  himself,  clad  in  gold,  drives  over  the 
waves.  The  beasts  of  the  sea  sport  round  him,  leaving  their 
lurking  places,  for  they  know  him  to  be  their  lord.  The  sea 
rejoices  and  makes  way  for  him.  His  horses  speed  lightly, 
and  never  a  drop  touches  the  brazen  axle." 

It  may  have  been  to  illustrate  a  tendency  of  the  sea  to  en¬ 
croach  in- many  places  on  the  coast,  as  well  as  to  show  the 


POSEIDON,  OR  NEPTUNE. 


51 


importance  attached  to  a  good  supply  of  water,  that  the  myth 
originated  which  tells  us  -  of  the  dispute  between  Poseidon 
and  Athene  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  soil  of  Attika.  To 
settle  the  dispute,  it  was  agreed  by  the  gods  that  whichever 
of  the  two  should  perform  the  greatest  wonder,  and  at  the 
same  time  confer  the  most  useful  gift  on  the  land,  should  be 
entitled  to  rule  over  it.  With  a  stroke  of  his  trident  Posei¬ 
don  caused  a  brackish  spring  to  well  up  on  the  Acropolis  of 
Athens,  a  rock  400  feet  high,  and  previously  altogether 
without  water.  But  Athene  in  her  turn  caused  the  first  olive 
tree  to  grow  from  the  same  bare  rock,  and  since  that  was 
deemed  the  greatest  benefit  that  could  be  bestowed,  obtained 
for  all  time  sovereignty  of  the  land,  which  Poseidon  there¬ 
upon  spitefully  inundated. 

A  similar  dispute,  and  ending  also  unfavourably  for  him, 
was  that  which  he  had  with  Hera  concerning  the  district  of 
Argos.  But  in  this  case  his  indignation  took  the  opposite 
course  of  causing  a  perpetual  drought.  Other  incidents  of  the 
same  nature  were  his  disputes  with  Helios  for  the  possession 
of  Corinth,  with  Zeus  for  ^Egina,  with  Dionysos  for  Naxos, 
and  with  Apollo  for  Delphi.  The  most  obvious  illustrations, 
however,  of  the  encroaching  tendency  of  the  sea  are  the  mon¬ 
sters  which  Poseidon  sent  to  lay  waste  coast  lands,  such  as  those 
which  Hesione  and  Andromeda  were  offered  to  appease. 

In  the  Iliad  Poseidon  appears  only  in  his  capacity  of  ruler 
of  the  sea,  inhabiting  a  brilliant  palace  in  its  depths,  travers¬ 
ing  its  surface  in  a  chariot,  or  stirring  the  powerful  billows 
till  the  earth  shakes  as  they  crash  upon  the  shore.  This  limi¬ 
tation  of  his  functions,  though  possibly  to  be  accounted  for 
by  the  nature  of  the  poem,  is  remarkable  for  this  reason,  that 
among  the  earliest  myths  associated  with  his  worship  are  those 


U.  OF  ILL.  LIB. 


52 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


in  which  he  is  represented  in  connection  with  well-watered 
plains  and  valleys.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Lerna,  in  the 
parched  district  of  Argos,  he  had  struck  the  earth  with  his 
trident,  and  caused  three  springs  to  well  up  for  love  of 
Amymone,  whom  he  found  in  distress,  because  she  could 
not  obtain  the  water  which  her  father  Danaos  had  sent  her 
to  fetch.  In  Thessaly  a  stroke  of  his  trident  had  broken 
through  the  high  mountains,  which  formerly  shut  in  the  whole 
country  and  caused  it  to  be  frequently  flooded  with  water. 
By  that  stroke  he  formed  the  pleasant  vale  of  Tempe,  through 
which  the  water  collecting  from  the  hills  might  flow  away. 
A  district  well  supplied  with  water  was  favourable  to  pasture 
and  the  rearing  of  horses,  and  in  this  way  the  horse  came  to 
be  doubly  his  symbol,  as  god  of  the  water  of  the  sea  and  on 
the  land.  In  Arcadia,  with  its  mountainous  land  and  fine 
streams  and  valleys,  he  was  worshipped  side  by  side  with 
Demeter,  with  whom,  it  was  believed,  he  begat  that  winged 
and  wonderfully  fleet  horse  Arion.  In  Boeotia,  where  he 
was  also  worshipped,  the  mother  of  Arion  was  said  to  have 
been  Erinys,  to  whom  he  had  appeared  in  the  form  of  a 
horse.  With  Medusa  he  became  the  father  of  the  winged 
horse  Pegasos,  which  was  watered  at  springs  by  Nymphs, 
and  appeared  to  poets  as  the  symbol  of  poetic  inspiration. 
And  again,  as  an  instance  of  his  double  capacity  as  god  of  the 
sea  and  pasture  streams,  the  ram,  with  the  golden  fleece  for 
which  the  Argonauts  sailed,  was  said  to  have  been  his  offspring 
by  Theophane,  who  had  been  changed  into  a  lamb.  Chief 
among  his  other  offspring  were,  on  the  one  hand,  the  giant 
Antaeos,  who  derived  from  his  mother  Earth  a  strength 
which  made  him  invincible,  till  Herakles  lifting  him  in  the 
air  overpowered  him,  and  the  Kyklops,  Polyphemos  :  on 


POSEIDON,  OR  NEPTUNE. 


53 


the  other  hand,  Pelias,  who  sent  out  the  Argonauts,  and 
Neleus  the  father  of  Nestor. 

To  return  to  the  instances  of  rebellious  conduct  on  the 
part  of  Poseidon,  it  appears  that  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
war  with  the  Giants  a  disagreement  arose  between  him  and 
Zeus,  the  result  of  which  was  that  Poseidon  was  suspended 
for  the  period  of  a  year  from  the  control  of  the  sea,  and  was 
further  obliged  during  the  time  to  serve,  along  with  Apollo, 
Laomedon  the  King  of  Troy,  and  to  help  to  build  the  walls 
of  that  city.  Some  say  that  the  building  of  the  walls  was 
voluntary  on  the  part  of  both  gods,  and  was  done  to  test  the 
character  of  Laomedon,  who  afterwards  refused  to  give  Posei¬ 
don  the  reward  agreed  upon.  Angry  at  this,  the  god  de¬ 
vastated  the  land  by  a  flood,  and  sent  a  sea-monster,  to  ap¬ 
pease  which  Laomedon  was  driven  to  offer  his  daughter  He- 
sione  as  a  sacrifice.  Herakles,  however,  set  the  maiden 
free  and  slew  the  monster.  Thus  defeated,  Poseidon  relented 
none  of  his  indignation  towards  the  Trojans,  and  would  have 
done  them  much  injury  in  after  times,  when  they  were  at  war 
with  the  Greeks,  but  for  the  interference  of  Zeus. 

Though  worshipped  generally  throughout  Greece,  it  was  in 
the  seaport  towns  that  the  most  remarkable  zeal  was  displayed 
to  obtain  his  favour.  Temples  in  his  honour,  sanctuaries,  and 
public  rejoicings  were  to  be  met  with  in  Thessaly,  Boeotia, 
Arcadia,  at  Aegae,  and  Helike,  on  the  coast  of  Achaea,  at 
Pylos  in  Messenia,  at  Elis,  in  the  island  of  Samos,  at  Corinth, 
Nauplia,  Troezen,  in  the  islands  of  Kalauria,  Euboea,  Skyros, 
and  Tenos,  at  Mycale,  Taenarum,  Athens,  and  on  the  Isthmus 
— that  belt  of  land  which  connects  Peloponnesos  with  the 
rest  of  Greece.  In  the  island  of  Tenos  an  annual  festival 
was  held  in  his  honour,  at  which  he  was  worshipped  in  the  cha- 


54 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


racter  of  a  physician.  People  crowded  to  the  festival  from 
neighbouring  islands,  and  spent  the  time  in  banquets,  sacrifice, 
and  common  counsel.  But  chief  of  all  the  gatherings  in  his 
honour  was  that  held  on  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  in  the  au¬ 
tumn,  twice  in  each  Olympiad — a  festival  which  had  been  es¬ 
tablished  by  Theseus,  and  in  reputation  stood  next  to  the 
Olympian  games,  like  them  also  serving  the  purpose  of  main¬ 
taining  among  the  Greeks  of  distant  regions  the  consciousness 
of  their  common  origin.  The  Corinthians  had  the  right  of 
arranging  and  managing  them,  the  Athenians  having  also  cer¬ 
tain  privileges.  It  was  in  his  double  capacity  of  ruler  of  the 
sea  and  as  the  first  to  train  and  employ  horses  that  the  honours 
of  this  festival  were  paid  to  him.  His  temple,  with  other 
sanctuaries,  stood  in  a  pine  grove,  a  wreath  from  which  was 
the  prize  awarded  to  the  victors.  The  prize  had  originally 
been  a  wreath  of  parsley.  In  this  sacred  pine  grove  was  to  be 
seen  the  Argo,  the  ship  of  the  Argonauts,  dedicated  to 
Poseidon  as  a  memorial  of  the  earliest  enterprise  at  sea; 
and  there  also  stood  the  colossal  bronze  statue  of  the  god, 
which  the  Greeks  raised  to  commemorate  the  splendid  naval 
victory  gained  over  the  Persians  at  Salamis.  Horses  and  bulls 
were  sacrificed  to  him,  the  method  of  performing  the  sacrifice 
being  to  throw  them  into  the  sea.  It  was  the  practice  of  fortu¬ 
nate  survivors  of  shipwreck  to  hang  up  some  memento  of 
their  safety  in  one  of  his  temples. 

The  Romans,  living  mostly  as  herdsmen  and  farmers  in  early 
times,  had  little  occasion  to  propitiate  the  god  of  the  sea,  and 
it  was  probably,  therefore,  rather  as  the  father  of  streams 
that  they  erected  a  temple  to  N*eptunus  in  the  Campus 
Martius,  and  held  a  festival  in  his  honour  attended  with 
games,  feasting,  and  enjoyment  like  that  of  a  fair. 


AMPHITRITE. 


55 


Between  Zeus  and  Poseidon  there  is,  in  works  of  art,  such  likeness  as  would 
be  expected  between  two  brothers.  But  Poseidon  is  by  far  the  more  powerful 
of  the  two  physically — his  build,  like  that  of  Herakles,  expressing  the  greatest 
conceivable  strength.  But  unlike  Herakles,  his  attitudes  and  especially  his 
head,  are  those  of  a  god,  not  of  an  athlete.  His  features,  one  by  one,  resemble 
those  of  Zeus,  but  his  hair,  instead  of  springing  from  his  brow,  falls  in  thick 
masses  over  the  temples,  and  is  matted  from  the  water.  His  attributes  are  a 
trident  and  dolphin.  Possibly  the  sacred  figures  of  him  in  his  temples  repre¬ 
sented  him  seated  on  a  throne,  and  clad  in  the  Ionian  chiton.  But  in  the 
colossal  statues  of  him  erected  on  promontories  and  in  harbours,  to  secure  his 
favour,  he  was  always  standing  wearing  only  a  slight  scarf,  which  concealed 
none  of  his  powerful  form,  holding  out  a  dolphin  in  his  left,  and  the  trident  in 
his  right  hand,  often  with  one  foot  raised  on  the  prow  of  a  vessel.  In  works 
of  art  not  connected  directly  with  his  worship  he  was  figured  (as  on  plate  v.), 
traversing  the  sea  in  a  car  drawn  by  Hippocamps,  or  other  fabulous  creatures 
of  the  sea.  In  one  of  the  pediments  of  the  Parthenon  the  dispute  between 
him  and  Athene  was  represented. 


AMPHITRITE, 

The  rightful  wife  of  Poseidon,  was  the  goddess  of  the  sea, 
had  the  care  of  its  creatures,  could  stir  the  great  waves,  and 
hurl  them  against  rocks  and  cliffs.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Okeanos  and  Tethys,  or,  according  to  another  report,  of 
Nereus  and  Doris.  Usually  she  was  represented  with  flow¬ 
ing  hair  and  the  toes  of  a  crab  protruding  from  her  temples ; 
sometimes  seated  on  the  back  of  a  triton  or  other  creature 
of  the  deep,  alone  among  sea-animals  and  seaweed,  or  accom¬ 
panying  Poseidon.  She  may  be  compared  with  the  sea-god¬ 
dess  of  the  Romans,  Salacia,  Neverita,  and  Venilia. 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


i 


^6 


HADES,  or  PLUTO. 

(plate  VI.) 

We  have  seen  how  Zeus,  Hera,  and  Poseidon  came  to  be  con¬ 
ceived  as  the  three  great  deities  who  between  them  controlled 
the  elements  of  heavens,  sky,  and  sea,  and  how  a  character 
came  to  be  ascribed  to  each  of  them  such  as  was  most  natu¬ 
rally  suggested  by  the  phenomena  of  the  provinces  of  the 
world  in  which  they  respectively  ruled.  But  there  still  re¬ 
mained  a  region  which  could  not  escape  the  observation  of 
people  like  the  Greeks,  gifted  with  so  keen  a  sense  of  the  va¬ 
rious  operations  of  nature.  That  region  was,  however,  itself 
invisible,  being  under  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  growth 
of  vegetation  was  seen  to  be  steadily  upward,  as  if  impelled 
by  some  divine  force  below.  The  metals  which  experience 
showed  to  be  most  precious  to  mankind  could  only  be  ob¬ 
tained  by  digging  into  that  dark  region  under  the  earth.  Thi- 
ther  returned,  after  its  day  on  earth  was  spent,  every  form  of 
life.  In  conceiving  a  god  who  should  be  supreme  in  the 
management  of  this  region,  it  was  necessary  to  attribute  a 
double  character  to  him  :  first,  as  the  source  of  all  the  trea¬ 
sures  and  wealth  of  the  earth,  as  expressed  in  his  name  Plu- 
ton ;  and  secondly,  as  monarch  of  the  dark  realm  inhabited 
by  the  invisible  shades  of  the  dead,  as  expressed  in  his  name 
of  Aides. 

While  by  virtue  of  his  power  of  giving  fertility  to  vegeta¬ 
tion,  of  swelling  the  seed  cast  into  the  furrows  of  the  earth, 
and  of  yielding  treasures  of  precious  metal,  he  was  justly 
viewed  as  a  benevolent  deity  and  a  true  friend  of  man,  there 
was  another  and  very  grim  side  to  his  character,  in  which  he 


Demeter,  or  Ceres 


Hestia,  or  Vesta 


. 


57 


HADES,  OR  PLUTO. 


appears  as  the  implacable,  relentless  god,  whom  no  cost  of  sa¬ 
crifice  could  persuade  to  permit  any  one  who  had  once  passed 
his  gates  ever  to  return.  For  this  reason,  to  die,  to  go  to 
Hades’  house,  to  pass  out  of  sight,  to  be  lost  in  the  darkness 
of  the  lower  world,  was  looked  forward  to  as  the  dismal  in¬ 
evitable  fate  awaiting  all  men.  Yet  there  must  have  been 
some  consolation  in  the  belief  that  the  life  thus  claimed  by 
him  had  been  originally  his  gift,  as  were  the  means  of  com¬ 
fort  and  pleasure  in  life  thus  cut  off.  In  later  times,  when  the 
benevolent  side  of  his  character  came  more  into  view,  assur¬ 
ing  hopes  arose  concerning  a  future  happy  life  that  robbed 
death  of  its  terrors.  To  impart  such  hopes  was  the  purpose 
of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries. 

It  seems  to  have  been  to  make  this  union  of  two  such  oppo¬ 
site  powers  in  the  person  of  one  god  more  explicit  that  the 
myth  concerning  his  marriage  with  Persephone  originated, 
she  being,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  a  personification  of  young 
blooming  life.  The  grim  god  of  the  dead  carries  off  by  force 
a  young  goddess  full  of  life.  But  no  new  life  issues  from  the 
marriage.  Yet  she  loved  him,  it  would  seem;  for  when  her 
mother,  Demeter  (Ceres),  implored  her  to  come  back  to 
earth,  her  answer  was  that  she  had  accepted  from  her  husband 
the  half  of  a  pomegranate,  or  apple  of  love  as  it  was  called, 
and  had  eaten  it.  It  is  apparently  in  reference  to  this  that 
both  Hades  and  Persephone  are  represented  in  works  of  art 
holding  each  a  fruit. 

Hades,  being  a  son  of  Rhea  and  Kronos,  was  entitled, 
after  the  dethronement  of  the  latter,  to  a  share  along  with  his 
two  brothers,  Zeus  and  Poseidon,  in  the  management  of 
the  world.  They  cast  lots,  and  to  Hades  fell  the  dominion 
over  the  lower  world.  The  importance  assigned  to  his  domi- 


53 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


nion  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  of  its  monarch  being  a  bro¬ 
ther  of  Zeus,  and  styled,  too,  sometimes,  “Zeus  of  the  lower 
world.” 

With  regard  to  the  region  where  the  realm  of  Hades  was 
to  be  looked  for  we  find  the  ancient  authorities  at  variance, 
some  representing  it  as  in  the  under-world  proper — that  is, 
under  the  crust  of  the  earth,  others  in  the  remote  west,  in 
Okeanos,  where  were  the  gloomy  groves  of  Persephone.  It 
was  entered  from  the  upper  world  by  any  spot  of  sufficiently 
sombre  or  wild  natural  aspect,  particularly  chasms  with  dark 
waters  such  as  inspire  terror.  The  most  celebrated  place  of 
this  kind  was  Lake  Avernus,  at  Cumae  in  Italy,  of  which  it 
was  said,  as  of  the  Dead  Sea,  that  no  bird  tried  to  fly  across 
it  but  fell  lifeless  in  its  waters.  Beyond  these  entrances  was  an 
open  gate  through  which  all  comers  had  to  pass,  and  having 
passed  could  not  as  a  rule  retrace  a  step.  Exceptions  to  the 
rule  were  made  in  favour  of  heroes  such  as  Herakles  and 
Orpheus,  who  were  permitted  to  visit  the  home  of  the  dead, 
and  return  alive.  The  entrance  was  guarded  by  the  dog  of 
Hades,  the  dreaded  Cerberus,  a  monster  with  three  heads 
and  a  serpent’s  tail,  fawning  on  those  who  entered,  but  show¬ 
ing  his  horrible  teeth  to  those  who  tried  to  pass  out.  But  be¬ 
sides  by  this  gateway,  the  lower  was  separated  from  the  up¬ 
per  world  by  rivers  with  impetuous  torrents,  of  which  the 
most  famous  was  the  Styx,  a  stream  of  such  terrible  aspect 
that  even  the  highest  gods  invoked  it  as  witness  of  the  truth 
of  their  oaths.  Across  this  river  the  departed  were  conveyed 
by  an-  aged  ferryman  appointed  by  the  gods,  and  called  Cha¬ 
ron,  but  not  until  their  bodies  had  been  buried  in  the  earth 
above  with  all  due  ceremony  of  sacrifice  and  marks  of  affec¬ 
tion.  Till  this  was  done,  the  souls  of  the  departed  had  to 


HADES,  OR  PLUTO. 


59 


wander  listlessly  about  the  farther  bank  of  the  Styx,  a  pros- 

» 

pect  which  was  greatly  dreaded  by  the  ancients.  For  the 
ferry  Charon  exacted  a  toll  ( naulori ),  to  pay  which  a  piece  of 
money  ( danake )  was  placed  in  the  mouth  of  the  dead  at  bu¬ 
rial. 

The  other  rivers  of  the  under-world  were  named  Ache¬ 
ron,  that  is,  the  river  of  “eternal  woe”;  Pyriphlege- 
thon,  the  stream  of  “fire”;  and  Kokytos,  the  river  of 
“  weeping  and  wailing.”  To  these  is  added,  by  a  latef  myth, 
Lethe,  the  river  of  “forgetfulness” — so  called  because  its 
waters  were  believed  to  possess  the  property  of  causing  the 
departed  who  drank  of  them  to  forget  altogether  their  former 
circumstances  in  the  upper  world.  The  purport  of  this  myth 
was  to  explain  and  establish  the  idea  that  the  dead  could  not 
take  with  them  into  the  realm  of  everlasting  peace  the  con¬ 
sciousness  of  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  their  lot  on  earth.  In 
the  waters  of  Lethe  they  drank  a  happy  oblivion  of  all  past 
suffering,  wants,  and  troubles, — an  idea  of  the  means  of  for¬ 
getting  sorrow  which  later  poets  have  made  frequent  use  of. 

In  the  last  book  of  the  Odyssey  the  souls  of  the  slain 
suitors,  conceived  as  small  winged  beings,  are  described  as 
being  conducted  to  the  realm  of  Hades  by  Hermes  in  his  ca¬ 
pacity  of  Psychopompos  (see  Plate  VI).  The  way  is  dark 
and  gloomy.  They  pass  the  streams  of  Okeanos,  the  white 
rock,  the  gates  of  Helios,  the  people  of  dreams,  and  at  last 
reach  the  Asphodel  meadow,  where  the  spirits  of  the  dead 
inhabit  subterraneous  caves. 

With  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  dead  under  the  do¬ 
minion  of  Hades,  the  belief  was  that  they  led  a  shadowy  sort 
of  apparent  life,  in  which,  as  mere  reflections  of  their  former 
selves,  they  continued  as  in  a  dream,  at  any  rate  without  dis- 


6o 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


tinct  consciousness,  to  perform  the  labours  and  carry  on  the 

A 

occupations  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  on  earth.  It 
was  only  to  favoured  individuals  like  the  Theban  seer, 
Teiresias,  of  whom  we  have  more  to  say  afterwards,  that 
the  privilege  of  complete  consciousness  was  granted.  Such 
was  the  sad  condition  of  the  dead ;  and  how  they  bore  it  may 
be  guessed  from  the  complaint  of  Achilles  to  Odysseus,  in 
the  Odyssey:  “  I  would  rather  toil  as  a  day-labourer  on  the 
earth  than  reign  here  a  prince  of  dead  multitudes.”  Occasion¬ 
ally  the  shades  of  the  dead  were  permitted  to  appear  to  their 
friends  on  earth.  It  was  also  possible  to  summon  them  by  a 
sacrifice,  the  blood  of  which,  when  they  had  drunk  of  it, 
restored  consciousness  and  speech,  so  as  to  enable  them  to 
communicate  with  the  living. 

We  must,  however,  clearly  distinguish  between  this  under¬ 
world  as  the  abiding  place  of  the  great  mass  of  the  dead,  and 
two  other  regions  where  spirits  of  the  departed  were  to  be 
found, — the  one  Elysion  (the  Elysian  Fields),  with  the 
islands  of  the  blest,  and  the  other  Tartaros.  The  former 
region  was  most  commonly  placed  in  the  remotest  West,  and 
the  latter  as  far  below  the  earth  as  the  heavens  are  above  it. 
In  early  times  it  appears  to  have  been  believed  that  Elysion 
and  the  happy  islands  were  reserved  less  for  the  virtuous  and 
good  than  for  certain  favourites  of  the  gods.  There,  under 
the  sovereignty  of  Kronos,  they  lived  again  a  kind  of  second 
golden  age  of  perpetual  duration.  But  in  later  times  there 
spread  more  and  more  the  belief  in  a  happy  immortality  re- 
' served  for  all  the  good,  and  particularly  for  those  who  had 
been  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries  (see  below). 
Tartaros,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  region  where  those 
were  condemned  to  punishment  who  had  committed  any  crime 


HADES,  OR  PLUTO. 


61 


against  the  gods  while  on  earth.  What  was  the  misery  of 
their  condition  we  shall  be  able  to  judge  from  the  following 
account  of  a  few  of  the  best  known  of  those  condemned  to 
such  punishment, — as  Tantalos,  Ixion,  Sisyphos,  Tityos, 
and  the  Dana'ides. 

Tantalos,  once  a  king  of  Phrygia,  had  given  offence  to 
the  gods  by  his  overbearing  and  treachery,  as  well  as  by  the 
cruelty  which  he  had  practised  on  his  own  son.  For  this  he 
was  doomed  to  Tartaros,  and  there  to  suffer  from  an  unceasing 
dread  of  being  crushed  by  a  great  rock  that  hung  above  his 
head,  he  the  while  standing  up  to  the  throat  in  water,  yet 
possessed  of  a  terrible  thirst  which  he  could  never  quench, 
and  a  gnawing  hunger  which  he  tried  in  vain  to  allay  with  the 
tempting  fruits  that  hung  over  his  head  but  withdrew  at  every 
approach  he  made. 

Ixion,  once  a  sovereign  of  Thessaly,  had,  like  Tantalos, 
outraged  the  gods,  and  was  in  consequence  sentenced  to  Tar¬ 
taros,  there  to  be  lashed  with  serpents  to  a  wheel  which  a 
strong  wind  drove  continually  round  and  round. 

Sisyphos,  once  king  of  Corinth,  had  by  treachery  and 
hostility  incurred  the  anger  of  the  gods  in  a  high  degree,  and 
was  punished  in  Tartaros  by  having  to  roll  a  huge  stone  up  a 
height,  which  he  had  no  sooner  done,  by  means  of  his  utmost 
exertion,  than  it  rolled  down  again. 

Tityos,  a  giant  who  once  lived  in  Euboea,  had  misused  his 
strength  to  outrage  Leto  (the  mother  of  Apollo  and  Arte¬ 
mis),  and  was  condemned  by  Zeus  to  Tartaros,  where  two 
enormous  vultures  gnawed  continually  his  liver,  which  always 
grew  again. 

The  Dana'ides,  daughters  of  Danaos,  king  of  Argos  (of 
whom  see  below),  were  sentenced  to  Tartaros  for  the  murder 


6  2 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


of  their  husbands.  The  punishment  prescribed  for  them  was 
lo  carry  water,  and  continue  to  pour  it  into  a  broken  cistern 
or  vase,  the  labour  being  all  in  vain,  and  going  on  for  ever. 

Hades  and  Persephone,  however,  were  not  only  rulers 
over  the  souls  of  the  departed,  but  were  also  believed  to  exer¬ 
cise  the  function  of  judges  of  mankind  after  death.  In  this 
task  they  were  assisted  by  three  heroes  who  while  on  earth  had 
been  conspicuous  for  wisdom  and  justice, — Minos,  Rhada- 
manthys,  and  ./Eakos,  the  last  being  also,  apart  from  this, 
the  gate-keeper  of  the  lower  region,  according  to  a  later 
opinion. 

Both  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  the  worship  of  Pluton- 
Hades  was  wide-spread,  and  the  honours  paid  him  great.  In 
Greece  his  principal  temples  were  at  Pylos,  Athens,  and  Olym¬ 
pia  in  Elis.  The  cypress,  narcissus,  and  boxwood  were  sacred 
to  him.  In  Rome  a  great  festival  was  held  in  his  honour  in  the 
month  of  February,  at  which  sacrifices  ( fcbnicitiones )  of  black 
bulls  and  goats  were  offered,  and  the  officiating  priests  wore 
wreaths  of  cypress,  the  whole  ceremony  extending  over  twelve 
nights.  The  Saecular  Games,  which  were  held  once  in  a 
century,  were  in  his  honour,  and  as  a  tribute  to  the  dead. 

In  works  of  art  Hades  is  represented  as  having  inherited  the  same  type  of 
face  as  his  brothers  Zeus  and  Poseidon,  differing  only  in  a  certain  grimness  of 
expression.  His  hair  shades  his  brow  in  heavy  masses.  In  attitude  he  is 
either  seated  on  a  throne  with  Persephone  by  his  side  (as  on  plate  vi.),  or 
standing  in  a  chariot  and  carrying  her'off.  His  attributes  are  a  sceptre  like 
that  of  Zeus,  and  a  helmet,  which,  like  the  cloud  cap  of  Siegfried  in  German 
mythology,  made  its  wearer  invisible.  His  attendant  is  the  three-headed  dog 
Cerberus.  On  the  painted  vases  scenes  of  torment  in  Tartaros  are  not  unfre¬ 
quent — such,  for  example,  as  the  Dana'ides  pouring  water  into  the  broken 
vase,  or  Ixion  bound  to  the  wheel,  or  Sisyphos  pushing  up  the  stone:  Hera- 
kles  carrying  off  Cerberus,  and  Orpheus  on  his  memorable  visit  to  bring  back 
Eurydike,  are  also  represented  on  the  vases. 


PERSEPHONE,  OR  PROSERPINA. 


63 


PERSEPHONE,  or  PROSERPINA, 

(PLATE  VI.,) 

Or  Persephoneia,  also  called  Kora  by  the  Greeks,  and 
by  the  Romans  Libera,  was  a  daughter  of  Zeus  and  De¬ 
meter,  and  the  wife  of  Aides,  the  marriage  being  childless. 
Struck  with  the  charms  of  her  virgin  beauty,  Hades  had  ob¬ 
tained  the  sanction  of  his  brother  Zeus  to  carry  her  off  by 
force ;  and  for  this  purpose,  as  the  myth  relates,  he  suddenly 
rose  up  from  a  dark  hole  in  the  earth  near  to  where  she  was 
wandering  in  a  flowery  meadow  not  far  from  ZEtna  in  Sicily, 
plucking  and  gathering  the  narcissus,  seized  the  lovely  flower- 
gatherer,  and  made  off  with  her  to  the  under-world  in  a  chariot 
drawn  by  four  swift  horses,  Hermes  leading  the  way.  Perse¬ 
phone  resisted,  begged  and  implored  gods  and  men  to  help 
her ;  but  Zeus  approving  the  transaction  let  it  pass.  In  vain 
Demeter  searched  for  her  daughter,  traversing  every  land,  o/, 
as  other  myths  say,  pursuing  the  escaped  Hades  with  her  yoke 
of  winged  serpents,  till  she  learned  what  had  taken  place  from 
the  all-seeing  and  all-hearing  god  of  the  sun.  Then  she  en¬ 
treated  with  tears  the  gods  to  give  her  daughter  back,  and  this 
they  promised  to  do  provided  she  had  not  as  yet  tasted  of 
anything  in  the  under- world.  But  by  the  time  that  Hermes, 
who  had  been  sent  by  Zeus  to  ascertain  this,  reached  the 
under-world,  she  had  eaten  the  half  of  a  pomegranate  which 
Hades  had  given  her  as  an  expression  of  love.  For  this  reason 
the  return  of  Persephone  to  the  upper  world  for  good  became 
impossible.  She  must  remain  the  wife  of  Hades.  An  arrange¬ 
ment  was  however  come  to,  by  which  she  was  to  be  allowed 
to  stay  with  her  mother  half  the  year  on  earth  and  among  the 


64 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


gods  of  Olympos,  while  the  other  half  of  the  year  was  to  be 
spent  with  her  husband  below. 

In  this  myth  of  Persephone-Kora,  daughter  of  Zeus,  the 
god  of  the  heavens,  which  by  their  warmth  and  rain  produce 
fertility,  and  of  Demeter,  the  maternal  goddess  of  the  fertile 
earth,  we  see  that  she  was  conceived  as  a  divine  personification 
of  the  process  of  vegetation — in  summer  appearing  beside  her 
mother  in  the  light  of  the  upper  world,  but  in  the  autumn  dis¬ 
appearing,  and  in  winter  passing  her  time,  like  the  seed, 
under  the  earth  with  the  god  of  the  lower  world.  The  decay 
observed  throughout  Nature  in  autumn,  the  suspension  of  vege¬ 
tation  in  winter,  impressed  the  ancients,  as  it  impresses  us  and 
strikes  modern  poets,  as  a  moral  of  the  transitoriness  of  all 
earthly  life ;  and  hence  the  carrying  off  of  Persephone  ap¬ 
peared  to  be  simply  a  symbol  of  death.  But  the  myth  at  the 
same  time  suggests  hope,  and  proclaims  the  belief  that  out  of 
death  springs  a  new  life,  but  apparently  not  a  productive  life, 
and  that  men  carried  off  by  the  god  of  the  under-world  will  not 
for  ever  remain  in  the  unsubstantial  region  of  the  shades.  This 
at  least  appears  to  have  been  the  sense  in  which  the  myth  of 
Persephone  and  her  mother  was  presented  to  those  initiated 
into  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  which,  as  we  have  remarked 
before,  held  out  assuring  hopes  of  the  imperishableness  of 
human  existence,  and  of  an  eternal  real  life  to  follow  after  death. 

As  queen  of  the  shades  Persephone  had  control  over  the  vari¬ 
ous  dreaded  beings  whose  occupation,  like  that  of  the  Sirens, 
was  to  beguile  men  to  their  death,  or  like  that  of  the  Erinys, 
to  avenge  murder  and  all  base  crimes.  She  shared  the  honours 
paid  to  her  husband  in  Greece,  lower  Italy,  and  especially  in 
the  island  of  Sicily.  Temples  of  great  beauty  were  erected 
for  her  in  the  Greek  Locri,  and  at  Kyzikos  on  the  Propontis. 


DEMETER,  OR  CERES. 


65 


The  principal  festivals  held  in  her  honour  in  Greece  occurred 
in  the  autumn  or  in  spring,  the  visitors  at  the  former  appear¬ 
ing  dressed  in  mourning  to  commemorate  her  being  carried 
off  by  Pluto,  while  at  the  spring  festival  all  wore  holiday  gar¬ 
ments  to  commemorate  her  return. 

There  remains,  however,  the  important  phase  of  her  charac¬ 
ter  in  which  she  returns  to  the  upper  world  and  is  associated 
with  her  mother  Demeter.  But  this  it  will  be  more  conve¬ 
nient  to  consider  in  the  next  chapter.  The  attributes  of  Perse¬ 
phone  were  ears  of  corn  and  poppies.  Her  attribute  as  the 
wife  of  Hades  was  a  pomegranate  ;  her  sacrifice  consisted  of 
cows  and  pigs.  In  works  of  art  she  has  a  more  youthful  ap¬ 
pearance,  but  otherwise  closely  resembles  her  mother  Demeter. 
The  Roman  Proserpina,  though  the  name  is  clearly  the  same 

as  Persephone,  appears  to  have  had  no  hold  on  the  religious 

* 

belief  of  the  Roman  nation,  their  goddess  of  the  shades  being 

Libitina,  or  Lubentina. 

DEMETER,  or  CERES, 

(plate  VI.,) 

A  daughter  of  Kronos  and  Rhea,  was  the  goddess  of  the 
earth  in  its  capacity  of  bringing  forth  countless  fruits,  the  all- 
nourishing  mother,  and  above  all  the  divine  being  who  watched 
over  the  growth  of  grain,  and  the  various  products  of  vegeta¬ 
tion  most  important  to  man.  The  first  and  grand  thought  in 
her  worship  was  the  mysterious  evolution  of  life  out  of  the 
seed  which  is  cast  into  the  ground  and  suffered  to  rot — a  pro¬ 
cess  of  nature  which  both  St.  Paul  (i  Corinthians  xv.  35)  and 
St.  John  (xii.  24)  compare  with  the  attainment  of  a  new  life 
through  Christ.  The  seed  left  to  rot  in  the  ground  was  in  the 
5 


66 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


keeping  of  her  daughter  Persephone,  the  goddess  of  the  lower 

world,  the  new  life  which  sprang  from  it  was  the  gift  of  Deme- 
• 

ter  herself ;  and  from  this  point  of  view  the  two  goddesses, 
mother  and  daughter,  were  inseparable.  They  were  regarded 
as  “two  in  one,”  and  styled  “the  great  deities.” 

From  being  conceived  as  the  cause  of  growth  in  the  grain 
Demeter  next  came  to  be  looked  on  as  having  first  introduced 
the  art  of  agriculture,  and  as  being  the  source  of  the  wealth 
and  blessings  which  attended  the  diligent  practice  of  that  art. 

When  Hades  carried  off  her  young  loved  daughter,  Demeter, 
with  a  mother’s  sorrow,  lit  her  torch,  and  mounting  her  car 
drawn  by  winged  snakes,  drove  through  all  lands  searching 
for  her,  leaving,  wherever  she  rested  and  was  hospitably  re¬ 
ceived,  traces  of  her  blessing  in  the  form  of  instruction  in  the 
art  of  agriculture.  But  nowhere  in  Greece  did  her  blessing 
descend  so  richly  as  in  the  district  of  Attica;  for  there  Keleos, 
of  Eleusis,  a  spot  not  far  from  Athens,  had  received  her  with 
most  cordial  hospitality.  In  return  for  this  she  taught  him  the 
use  of  the  plough,  and  before  departing  presented  to  his  son, 
Triptolemos,  whom  she  had  nursed,  the  seed  of  the  barley 
along  with  her  snake-drawn  car,  in  order  that  he  might  tra¬ 
verse  all  lands,  teaching  by  the  way  mankind  how  to  sow  and  to 
utilize  the  grain,  a  task  which  Triptolemos  performed  faithfully, 
and  so  extended  the  art  of  agriculture  to  most  distant  lands. 

In  Arcadia,  Crete,  and  Samothrace  we  find  her  associated 
with  a  mythical  hero  called  Jasion,  reputed  to  have  been  the 
first  sower  of  grain,  to  whom  she  bore  a  child,  whose  name  of 
Plutos  shows  him  to  be  a  personification  of  the  wealth  de¬ 
rived  from  the  cultivation  of  grain.  In  Thessaly  there  was  a 
legend  of  her  hostility  to  a  hero  sometimes  called  Erysich- 
ton,  *  the  earth  upturner  ’  or  ‘the  ploughman,’  and  some- 


DEMETER,  OR  CERES. 


67 


times  Aethon,  a  personification  of  famine.  Again  we  find  a 
reference  to  her  function  as  goddess  of  agriculture  in  the  story 
that  once,  when  Poseidon  threatened  with  his  superior  strength 
to  mishandle  her,  Demeter  took  the  form  of  a  horse  and  fled 
from  him ;  but  the  god,  taking  the  same  shape,  pursued  and 
overtook  her,  the  result  being  that  she  afterwards  bore  him 
Arion,  a  wonderful  black  horse  of  incredible  speed,  and 
gifted  with  intelligence  and  speech  like  a  man.  Pain  and 
shame  at  the  birth  of  such  a  creature  drove  her  to  hide  for  a 
long  time  in  a  cave,  till  at  last  she  was  purified  by  a  bath  in 
the  river  Ladon,  and  again  appeared  among  the  other 
deities.  From  the  necessities  of  agriculture  originated  the 
custom  of  living  in  settled  communities.  It  was  Demeter 
who  first  inspired  mankind  with  an  interest  in  property  and 
the  ownership  of  land,  who  created  the  feeling  of  patriotism 
and  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order. 

The  next  phase  of  her  character  was  that  which  came  into 
prominence  at  harvest  time,  when  the  bare  stubble  fields  re¬ 
minded  her  worshippers  of  the  loss  of  her  daughter  Perse¬ 
phone.  At  that  time  two  kinds  of  festivals  were  held  in  her 
honour,  the  one  kind  called  Haloa  or  Thalysia,  being  ap¬ 
parently  mere  harvest  festivals,  the  other  called  Thesmo- 
phoria.  Of  the  latter,  as  conducted  in  the  village  of  Hali- 
mus  in  Attica,  we  know  that  it  was  held  from  the  9th  to  the 
13th  of  October  each  year,  that  it  could  only  be  participated 
in  by  married  women,  that  at  one  stage  of  the  proceedings 
Demeter  was  hailed  as  the  mother  of  the  beautiful  child,  and 
that  this  joy  afterwards  gave  way  to  expressions  of  the  deep¬ 
est  grief  at  her  loss  of  her  daughter.  At  night  orgies  were 
held  at  which  mysterious  ceremonies  were  mixed  with  bois¬ 
terous  amusements  of  all  sorts.  The  Thesmoi  or  ‘  institu- 

* 


68 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


tions  ’  from  which  she  derived  the  title  of  Thesmophoros  ap¬ 
pear  to  have  referred  to  married  life. 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  to  what  extent  the  ancient 
Greeks  based  their  belief  in  a  happy  existence  hereafter  on 
the  mysterious  evolution  of  life  from  the  seed  rotting  in  the 
ground,  which  the  early  Christians  adopted  as  an  illustration 
of  the  grand  change  to  which  they  looked  forward.  But  that 
the  myth  of  the  carrying  off  of  Persephone,  her  gloomy  exist¬ 
ence  under  the  ground,  and  her  cheerful  return,  originated  in 
the  contemplation  of  this  natural  process,  is  clear  from  the 
fact  that  at  Eleusis  Demeter  and  Persephone  always  retained 
the  character  of  seed  goddesses,  side  by  side  with  their  more 
conspicuous  character  as  deities  in  whose  story  were  reflected 
the  various  scenes  through  which  those  mortals  would  have  to 
pass  who  were  initiated  into  the  Mysteries  of  Eleusis. 
These  mysteries  had  been  instituted  by  Demeter  herself,  and 
whatever  rites  they  may  have  consisted  in,  we  know  from  the 
testimony  of  men  like  Pindar  and  Aeschylos,  who  had  been 
initiated,  that  they  were  well  calculated  to  awaken  most  pro¬ 
found  feelings  of  piety  and  a  cheerful  hope  of  better  life  in 
future.  It  is  believed  that  the  ceremony  of  initiation  con¬ 
sisted,  not  in  instruction  as  to  what  to  believe  or  how  to  act 
to  be  worthy  of  her  favour,  but  in  elaborate  and  prolonged 
representations  of  the  various  scenes  and  acts  on  earth  and 
under  it  connected  with  the  myth  of  the  carrying  off  of  Per¬ 
sephone.  The  ceremony  took  place  at  night,  and  it  is  pro¬ 
bable  that  advantage  was  taken  of  the  darkness  to  make  the 
scenes  in  the  lower  world  more  hideous  and  impressive.  Pro¬ 
bably  these  representations  were  reserved  for  the  Epoptae  or 
persons  in  the  final  stage  of  initiation.  Those  in  the  earlier 
stages  were  called  Mystae.  Associated  with  Demeter  and 


DEMETER,  OR  CERES. 


69 


Persephone  in  the  worship  at  Eleusis  was  Dionysos  in  his 
youthful  character  and  under  the  name  of  Jacchos.  But  at 
what  time  this  first  took  place,  whether  it  was  due  to  some  af¬ 
finity  in  the  orgiastic  nature  of  his  worship,  or  rather  to  his 
local  connection  with  Attica  as  god  of  the  vine,  is  not  known. 

Two  festivals  of  this  kind,  Eleusinia,  were  held  annually, 
— the  lesser  in  spring,  when  the  earliest  flowers  appeared,  and 
the  greater  in  the  month  of  September.  The  latter  occupied 
nine  days,  commencing  on  the  night  of  the  20th  with  a  torch¬ 
light  procession.  Though  similar  festivals  existed  in  various 
parts  of  Greece  and  even  of  Italy,  those  of  Eleusis  in  Attica 
continued  to  retain  something  like  national  importance,  and 
from  the  immense  concourse  of  people  who  came  to  take  part 
in  them,  were  among  the  principal  attractions  of  Athens.  The 
duties  of  high  priest  were  vested  in  the  family  of  Eumolpidae, 
whose  ancestor  Eumolpos,  according  to  one  account,  had 
been  installed  in  the  office  by  Demeter  herself.  The  festival 
•  was  brought  to  a  close  by  games,  among  which  was  that  of 
bull-baiting. 

In  Italy  a  festival  founded  on  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries  and 
conducted  in  the  Greek  manner  was  held  in  honour  of 
Bacchus  and  Ceres,  or  Liber  and  Libera  as  they  were 
called.  It  appears,  however,  to  have  never  commanded  the 
same  respect  as  the  original.  For  we  find  Romans  who  had 
visited  Greece,  and  like  Cicero  been  initiated  at  Eleusis,  re¬ 
turning  with  a  strong  desire  to  see  the  Eleusinian  ceremonies 
transplanted  to  Rome,  ^together  it  is  probable  that  the 
Roman  Ceres  was  but  a  weak  counterpart  of  the  Greek 
Demeter. 

The  attributes  of  Demeter,  like  those  of  Persephone,  were 
ears  of  corn  and  poppies ;  on  her  head  she  wore  a  modius  or 


70 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


corn  measure  as  a  symbol  of  the  fertility  of  the  earth.  Her 
sacrifice  consisted  of  cows  and  pigs. 

Statues  that  can  positively  be  assigned  to  Demeter  are  very  rare,  the  best  by 
far  being  that  found  at  Cnidus  and  now  in  the  British  Museum,  which  repre¬ 
sents  her  seated,  draped,  and  with  a  veil  falling  from  the  back  of  her  head. 
On  her  head  is  neither  the  modius  nor  the  crown  which  she  also  wears  some¬ 
times.  On  the  painted  vases,  however,  figures  of  her  are  less  rare.  On  a  vase 
in  the  British  Museum  she  appears  beside  Triptolemos,  who  is  seated  in  the 
winged  car  which  she  gave  him.  On  another  vase,  also  in  the  national  collec¬ 
tion,  we  find  the  scene  at  the  institution  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries.  In  the 
centre  is  Triptolemos  seated  in  the  car;  before  him  Persephone  (here  called 
Pherophatta,  a  more  ancient  form  of  her  name),  and  a  figure  called  Eleusis ; 
behind  him  Demeter  and  Eumolpos ;  on  the  other  side  of  the  vase  are  Zeus, 
Dionysos,  Poseidon,  and  Amphitrite.  A  marble  relief,  found  at  Eleusis,  rep¬ 
resents,  it  is  believed,  Demeter,  Persephone,  and  the  youthful  Jacchos. 


HECATE, 

(plate  VII.,) 

Though,  properly  speaking,  not  one  of  the  supreme  order  of 
deities,  is  entitled  to  be  placed  here  on  account  of  a  resem¬ 
blance  to  Persephone  in  her  mysterious  functions  both  in  the 
upper  and  lower  world.  She  is  a  goddess  of  Titanic  origin, 
daughter  of  Tartaros  and  Night,  or  of  Perses  and  Aste- 
ria  (Starry-Night),  the  sister  of  Leto,  according  to  other 
accounts.  The  stories  current  among  the  ancients  concern¬ 
ing  her  vary  greatly,  and  often  confuse  her  with  other  deities, 
especially  those  of  the  night,  such  as  Selene  or  Luna,  the 
goddess  of  the  moon,  while  standing  to  Persephone  in  the  re¬ 
lation  of  servant  or  companion.  She  belongs  to  the  class  of 
torch-bearing  deities,  like  Artemis,  and  was  conceived  as 
carrying  a  burning  torch,  to  suit  the  belief  that  she  was  the 
nocturnal  goddess  of  the  moon,  and  a  huntress  who  knew  her 


VII 


Hecate. 


Kuretes  Keeping-  Guard  over  Infant  Zeus. 


HESTIA,  OR  VESTA. 


71 


way  also  in  the  realm  of  spirits.  All  the  secret  powers  of 
Nature  were  at  her  command,  it  was  thought.  She  had  a 
control  over  birth,  life,  and  death,  and  enjoyed  great  honour 
among  the  gods  of  Olympos  as  well  as  in  the  under-world. 
To  express  her  power  in  the  three  regions  of  nature,  heaven, 
earth,  and  the  under-world,  she  was  represented  as  of  triple 
form,  and  named  Triformis.  Dogs  were  sacred  to  her.  Her 
character  being  originally  that  of  a  mysterious  deity,  it  hap¬ 
pened  that  more  prominence  was  always  given  in  the  concep¬ 
tion  of  her  to  her  gloomy  and  appalling  features,  her  chief 
function  being  held  to  be  that  of  goddess  of  the  nether  world, 
of  night  and  darkness,  mistress  of  all  the  witchcraft  and  black 
arts  which  were  believed  in  as  much  in  antiquity  as  in  the 
middle  ages.  Accordingly  her  festivals  were  held  at  night, 
worship  was  paid  her  by  torchlight,  and  sacrifices  of  black 
lambs  presented  with  many  strange  ceremonies.  Her  presence 
was  mostly  felt  at  lonely  cross-roads,  whence  she  derived  the 
name  of  Trivia. 

A  mysterious  festival  was  held  in  her  honour  every  year  in 
the  island  of  Angina,  in  the  Saronic  Gulf.  Beside  the  lake  of 
Avernus,  in  lower  Italy,  was  a  dark  grove  sacred  to  her. 

HESTIA,  or  VESTA, 

(PLATE  VI.,) 

Sister  of  Demeter,  and  daughter  of  Kronos  and  Rhea,  was 
.  worshipped  both  by  Greeks  and  Romans  as  tlqe  goddess  of  the 
home-fire,  or  hearth,  the  name  of  which  was  identical  with  her 
own.  She  was  properly,  therefore,  the  guardian  of  family 
life ;  her  altars  were  everywhere,  the  hearth  of  every  house 
being  her  sanctuary,  and  when  the  family  gathered  round  it 


72 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


daily  it  was  with  feelings  of  regard  for  that  goddess.  Every 
meal  prepared  on  the  fire  at  home  revived  a  grateful  sense  of 
the  common  enjoyments  of  family  life.  In  every  building  of 
public  resort  she  had  a  sanctuary  in  the  shape  of  a  fire  ;  and 
when  in  Greece  a  body  of  colonists  were  about  to  emigrate  to 
new  and  distant  homes,  one  of  their  chief  considerations  was  to 
take  with  them  some  portion  of  fire  sacred  to  Hestia,  in  order 
to  carry  with  them  the  favour  of  the  goddess ;  for  the  Greeks 
looked  upon  the  state  as  a  great  family,  with  an  altar  of  Hestia 
as  its  central  point :  and  thus,  by  taking  with  them  to  their  new 
homes  a  portion  of  the  fire  from  that  altar,  or  state  hearth,  the 
colony  retained  its  interest  and  participation  in  the  public 
affairs  of  their  parent  state.  No  enterprise  was  commenced 
without  sacrifice  and  prayer  at  her  altar ;  and  when  the  fire  of 
one  of  those  holy  places  chanced  to  be  extinguished,  it  could 
only  be  rekindled  by  a  light  from  some  other  sanctuary,  not 
by  ordinary  and  impure  fire. 

As  the  goddess  of  a  pure  element,  Hestia  despised  love, 
and,  though  pressed  to  consent  both  by  Poseidon  and 
Apollo,  obtained  from  Zeus  the  privilege  she  prayed  for,  of 
remaining  in  a  single  state.  Her  spotless  purity  fitted  her 
peculiarly  to  be  the  guardian  of  virgin  modesty. 

Though  zealously  worshipped  throughout  Greece,  there  was 
no  temple  specially  devoted  to  her.  Her  proper  sanctuary  was, 
as  we  have  said,  by  the  fire  of  every  house  where  people  gathered 
together.  She  had  a  share  in  all  the  sacrifices  offered  at  the 
temples  of  other  gods,  and  at  every  burnt-offering  her  presence 
was  recognised  as  goddess  of  the  sacred  hearth  and  altar  flame, 
as  it  was  also  in  the  libations  of  water,  wine,  and  oil,  and  in 
the  prayers  addressed  to  her.  At  the  same  time  she  had  her 
own  peculiar  sacrifices,  consisting  of  young  shoots  of  grain, 


HESTIA,  OR  VESTA. 


73 


the  first-fruits  of  the  harvest,  and  young  cows.  Her  priestesses 
had  to  remain  virgins. 

In  Rome,  however,  there  was  a  temple  to  Vesta  that  had 
been  built  by  Numa  Pompilius.  It  was  of  a  round  shape, 
and  contained  in  its  centre  her  symbol  of  an  altar,  with  a  fire 
that  was  never  allowed  to  go  out.  This  temple,  which  stood 
open  by  day  but  was  closed  by  night,  contained,  besides  other 
very  old  figures  of  deities,  the  Palladium,  a  small  wooden 
image  of  Minerva  (Pallas-Athene),  which,  according  to  the 
myth,  originally  fell  from  heaven  upon  the  citadel  of  Troy, 
and  was  carried  thence  to  Greece,  and  afterwards  to  Rome. 
Upon  the  preservation  of  this  figure  depended,  the  people 
believed,  the  safety  and  existence  of  the  Roman  empire.  Her 
priestesses,  six  in  number,  were  called  vestal  virgins,  their 
duty  being  to  feed  the  sacred  flame  of  her  temple,  and  to 
present  sacrifices  and  prayers  for  the  welfare  of  the  state.  To 
this  office  they  were  chosen  by  the  high-priest,  who  was  styled 
Pontifex  maximus.  They  wore  robes  of  white,  with  a  fillet 
round  the  hair,  and  a  veil,  additional  ornaments  being  per¬ 
mitted  in  later  times.  It  was  necessary  that  the  girls  selected 
for  this  service  should  be  between  six  and  ten  years  of  age, 
and  that  they  should  take  a  vow  of  chastity,  and  serve  in  the 
temple  for  thirty  years.  After  that  period  they  were  per¬ 
mitted  to  leave  it,  and  even  to  marry,  though  neither  proceed¬ 
ing  was  viewed  with  pleasure  by  the  public,  who  feared  the 
goddess  to  whom  they  had  been  devoted  might  take  offence 
in  either  case.  While  engaged  in  the  services  of  the  temple 
the  vestal  virgins  enjoyed  great  esteem  and  important  privi¬ 
leges.  Their  person  was  inviolable,  they  were  free  from 
paternal  control,  and  had  the  right  of  disposing  of  their  own 
property.  In  their  festal  processions  through  the  streets  of 


74 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


Rome  they  were  preceded  by  lictors  (or  officers  of  justice), 
who  carried  with  them  the  fasces ,  that  is,  a  number  of  twigs 
tied  together  into  a  bundle,  out  of  which  an  axe  projected  as 
a  symbol  of  sovereign  power, — an  honour  which,  besides  them, 
only  the  consuls  or  highest  magistrates  of  Rome  were  entitled 
to.  And  in  the  course  of  the  procession,  should  they  meet  a 
criminal  on  his  way  to  expiate  his  crime  by  death,  they  had 
the  prerogative  of  ordering  him  to  be  set  free. 

With  all  this  respect  and  esteem,  they  were  very  severely 
dealt  with  when  guilty  of  neglect  of  duty,  such  as  permitting 
the  sacred  flame  of  the  altar  of  Vesta  to  die  out,  which 
could  only  be  rekindled  by  means  of  a  burning  glass  held 
up  to  the  rays  of  the  sun.  A  priestess  guilty  of  this  was 
condemned  by  the  high-priest  of  the  goddess  to  a  dark 
chamber,  and  there  flogged.  For  the  crime  of  forfeiting  her 
chastity  she  was  conveyed  to  a  place  called  the  Campus 
Sceleratus,  or  “  criminals’  field,”  and  there  placed  in  a  sub¬ 
terranean  chamber  provided  with  a  bed,  a  lighted  lamp,  and 
some  bread  and  water.  The  chamber  was  then  closed  upon 
her,  the  earth  thrown  over  it  and  made  smooth,  and  the 
unfortunate  priestess  left  to  die  a  most  agonizing  death.  Her 
seducer  was  publicly  scourged  to  death.  The  whole  city  was 
sorrowful,  and  sacrifice  and  long  earnest  prayers  were  offered 
up  to  appease  the  injured  goddess.  The  procession,  in  which 
the  condemned  priestess  was  carried  to  her  crypt,  tied  down 
on  a  litter,  and  so  closely  covered  up  that  even  her  screams 
could  not  be  heard,  was  a  spectacle  that  raised  a  shudder,  and 
caused  that  day  to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  greatest  pain 
and  grief  throughout  the  city. 

At  first  there  were  only  two  vestal  virgins,  this  number 
being  afterwards  increased  to  four,  and  again  by  King  Servius 


ARES,  OR  MARS. 


75 


to  six.  They  were  chosen  always  from  the  noblest  families 
of  Rome.  If  the  legend  concerning  the  foundation  of  the 
city  of  Rome  be  true,  even  Romulus  and  Remus,  the 
founders  of  that  city,  were  sons  of  a  vestal  priestess  named 

Rhea  Sylvia  and  Mars. 

The  sacred  fire  on  the  hearth  of  the  goddess,  and  the  laurel 
that  shaded  it,  were  renewed  on  the  ist  of  March  of  each 
year;  on  the  15th  of  June  her  temple  was  cleaned  and  re¬ 
paired.  But  previous  to  this,  on  the  9th  of  June,  a  festival 
was  held  in  her  honour,  called  the  Vestalia,  only  women 
being  admitted  to  the  temple,  and  these  barefooted,  and  in  the 
character  of  pilgrims. 

ARES,  or  MARS, 

(PLATES  VIII.  AND  XXVIII.,) 

A  son  of  Zeus  and  Hera,  according  to  the  belief  of  the 
Greeks,  was  originally  god  of  the  storm  and  tempest,  and 
more  particularly  of  the  hurricane ;  but  this  his  natural  mean¬ 
ing  was  lost  sight  of  at  an  earlier  period,  and  more  completely 
than  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  other  gods,  the  character  in 
which  he  appears ,to  us  being  exclusively  that  of  “  god  of  the 
turmoil  and  storms  in  human  affairs,”  in  other  words,  “  god 
of  dreadful  war,”  or  more  correctly,  “  of  the  wild  confusion 
and  strife  of  battle.”  Of  all  the  upper  gods  he  was  the  most 
fierce  and  terrible,  taking  pleasure  in  slaughter  and  massacre. 

In  this  respect  he  forms  a  striking  contrast  to  Pallas- 
Athene,  the  goddess  of  well-matched  chivalrous  fights,  whom 
we  often  find  opposed  to  him  in  mythical  narratives.  When 
fighting  she  was  invulnerable,  and  always  on  the  side  of  the 
victor ;  while  Ares  being  not  only  god  of  battle  but  also  a  per- 


7  6 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


sonification  of  war,  with  its  double  issue  of  victory  and  defeat, 
was  sometimes  wounded,  and  even  taken  prisoner.  When 
assisting  the  Trojans  in  their  war  with  the  Greeks,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  took  under  his  special  protection  their 
leader,  Hector,  he  was  wounded  by  the  Greek  hero  Diome- 
des,  aided  by  the  goddess  Athene.  He  fell  —  so  Homer 
describes  the  event  in  the  Iliad  (v.  853) — with  a  thundering 
crash  to  the  ground,  like  the  noise  of  nine  or  ten  thousand 
warriors  engaged  in  battle.  Again  (Iliad  xxi.  400)  he  was 
wounded  by  Athene  and  fell,  his  armour  clanking,  and  his 
body  covering  with  his  fall  seven  acres  of  ground, — an  ob¬ 
vious  reference  to  the  roar  and  destruction  attending  a 
great  storm.  He  was  once  captured  by  Otos  and  Ephialtes, 
the  giant  sons  of  Aloeus  the  planter,  and  kept  imprisoned 
in  a  great  bronze  vase  (Iliad  v.  385)  for  thirteen  months — a 
space  of  time  which,  when  we  remember  that  the  names  of 
the  two  heroes  are  derived  from  husbandry,  seems  to  indicate 
a  full  year  of  peaceful  agriculture.  Like  himself,  his  offspring 
were  distinguished  for  their  prowess  or  delight  in  strife ;  as, 
for  example,  Meleager,  the  prince  of  Kalydon,  who  speared 
the  Kalydonian  boar  (see  below);  Kyknos,  whom  Herakles 
slew,  and  for  this  would  have  been  avenged  by  Ares  had  not 
Zeus  stopped  the  conflict  of  his  two  powerful  sons  by  a  flash  of 
lightning;  then  Parthenopseos,  one  of  the  seven  leaders  in 
the  assault  on  the  town  of  Thebes  (see  below);  Oenomaeos, 
and  others.  The  expression,  “  a  son  or  offshoot  of  Ares,” 
frequently  applied  to  other  heroes,  must  not  be  understood 
literally,  but  merely  as  indicating  physical  strength  and  valour, 
equal  to  that  of  his  actual  descendants. 

Eris,  the  personification  of  fatal  strife,  was  usually  by  his 
side,  Dread  and  Alarm  (Deimos  and  Phobos)  attended  on  his 


ARES,  OR  MARS. 


77 


steps.  On  the  other  hand  we  find  him,  even  in  the  Iliad  (v. 
355  and  xxi.  416),  where  his  general  character  is  that  of  a 
huge  fierce  combatant,  associated  with  Aphrodite,  the  goddess 
of  love.  In  the  Odyssey  (viii.  266)  the  story  is  told  of  his 
secret  visit  to  her,  when  he  was  detected  by  Helios,  who  in¬ 
formed  Hephaestos  of  the  fact,  whereupon  the  latter  devised  a 
cunning  net,  and  catching  the  two  together  under  it  exhibited 
them  to  the  gods  of  Olympos,  and  called  upon  Zeus  to  bring 
them  to  trial.  This  relation  of  Ares  to  Aphrodite,  who  was 
even  worshipped  as  his  proper  wife  in  Thebes,  indicates  very 
probably  the  peace  and  rest  that  follow  the  turmoil  of  war. 

It  is  true  that  Ares  was  worshipped  in  Greece,  but  not  as  a 
great  protecting  deity,  such  as  he  was  deemed  by  the  Romans. 
In  Athens  the  Areopagos,  or  “ Mars’  Hill,”  on  which  was 
held  a  court  of  justice  for  the  decision  of  cases  involving  life 
and  death,  derived  its  name  from  him,  the  story  being  that  he 
had  once  appeared  before  it  in  a  cause  against  Poseidon.  The 
warlike  people  of  Tegea,  the  Spartans,  who  had  a  very  ancient 
temple  in  his  honour,  the  Athenians,  for  whom  Alkamenes  the 
sculptor,  a  contemporary  and  rival  of  Pheklias,  made  a  statue 
of  him,  and  the  Eleans,  all  worshipped  him  with  more  or  less 
zeal.  But  the  real  home  and  centre  of  his  worship  was  Thrace, 
with  its  wild  warlike  population  and  its  stormy  tempestuous 
sky.  It  was  in  Rome,  however,  with  its  conquests  and  pride 
of  military  power,  that  he  enjoyed  under  the  name  of  Mars 
the  highest  honour,  ranking  next  to  Jupiter  as  guardian  of 
the  state.  The  Romans  considered  themselves  to  be  actual 
descendants  of  Mars,  on  the  ground  of  his  having  been,  as 
was  believed,  the  father  of  Romulus  and  Remus,  styling  him 
Marspiter,  that  is,  Mars  Pater,  their  father  Mars.  At  Reate, 
in  Italy,  he  had  even  an  oracle.  In  Rome  there  was  a  field 


73 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


consecrated  to  him,  and  named  the  “Field  of  Mars,”  where 
military  exercises  and  manoeuvres  took  place,  athletic  compe¬ 
titions,  called  “martial  games,”  were  held,  and  public  assem¬ 
blies  were  summoned  to  consider  important  questions  of  the 
state.  The  race  course  and  the  temples  of  the  god  were  there ; 
and  there  every  four  years  were  held  the  census  and  muster  of 
citizens  liable  to  be  called  into  the  held  in  the  event  of  war. 
On  this  occasion  a  sacrifice  was  presented  to  him,  consisting 
of  a  bull,  a  ram,  and  a  goat,  which,  before  being  slain,  were 
led  three  times  round  the  assembled  crowd,  while  during  the 
ceremony  a  prayer  was  offered  up  that  the  immortal  gods 
might  still  enlarge  and  ennoble  the  Roman  empire  more  and 
more,  or  as  it  was  expressed  in  later  times,  that  they  might 
give  stability  and  endurance  to  the  Roman  state.  Chariot- 
races  were  held  there  twice  a  year,  at  the  beginning  of  March 
and  in  October ;  the  ceremony  of  sacrificing  to  Mars  the  off- 
horse  of  the  biga  that  won  the  race — the  October  horse  as  it 
was  called — being  performed  at  the  latter.  In  the  “  Field  of 
Mars  ”  was  dedicated  the  booty  brought  back  from  campaigns, 
and  no  Roman  general  went  to  war  without  first  proceeding 
to  the  temple  of  Mars,  to  swing  the  sacred  shield  and  spear, 
adding  the  words,  “  Watch  over  us,  O  Mars!”*  This  shield 
(ancile)  was  believed  to  have  fallen  from  heaven  at  the  time 
when  Numa  Pompilius  wras  king  of  Rome,  and,  like  the  Palla¬ 
dium  in  the  temple  of  Vesta,  was  looked  on  with  veneration. 
Both  it  and  a  sacred  spear  were  preserved  in  the  temple  of 
Mars,  under  the  custody  of  priests,  who  were  called  Salii,  and 
whose  duty  it  was  every  year  to  celebrate  a  festival  of  thanks¬ 
giving  for  this  important  present  from  the  gods.  In  the  ear¬ 
liest  times  the  sacrifices  offered  to  Mars  consisted  of  human 
beings,  particularly  those  who  had  been  taken  prisoners  in 


VIII 


Ares,  or  Mars.  Aphrodite,  or  Venus. 


HEPHAESTOS,  OR  VULCAN. 


79 


battle ;  but  in  later  times  this  custom  was  abandoned,  and 
horses,  rams,  dogs,  and  a  portion  of  the  booty  captured  from 
enemies,  offered  instead.  Besides  these  animals,  the  wolf, 
cock,  and  woodpecker  were  sacred  to  him. 

The  attributes  of  Ares  were  a  spear  and  a  burning  torch, 
such  as,  according  to  ancient  custom,  his  priests  carried  when 
they  advanced  to  give  the  sign  of  battle  to  opposing  armies. 
The  animals  chosen  as  his  symbols  were  the  dog  and  the 
vulture,  the  constant  visitants  of  battle-fields. 

In  works  of  art  Ares  is  represented  generally  as  of  a  youthful  but  very  pow¬ 
erful  build,  armed  with  helmet,  shield,  and  spear.  At  other  times  he  is  bearded 
and  heavily  armed.  A  favourite  subject  was  his  meeting  with  Aphrodite,  as 
on  plate  xxviii. 

HEPHAESTOS,  or  VULCAN, 

(plate  VIII.,) 

Was  the  divine  personification  of  the  fire  that  burns  within  the 
earth  and  bursts  forth  in  volcanic  eruptions — fire  which  has 
no  connection  with  the  sun  or  the  lightning  of  heaven ;  and 
such  being  his  character,  we  can  readily  understand  the 
mutual  dislike  which  existed  between  him  and  the  god  of  the 
light  of  heaven.  He  was  indeed  the  son  of  Zeus  and  Hera, 
the  supreme  deities  of  heaven ;  but  he  was  born  to  be  a  cause 
of  quarrel  between  them,  and  alternately  at  enmity  with  both. 
Once,  when  he  took  his  mother’s  part,  Zeus  seized  him  by  the 
heels  and  tossed  him  out  of  Olympos  (Iliad  i.  560).  Through 
the  air  he  fell  for  one  whole  day ;  at  evening,  as  the  sun  went 
down,  reaching  the  island  of  Lemnos,  where  he  was  found  by 
some  Sintian  people,  and  taken  under  friendly  care.  The 
place  where  he  was  found,  and  where  in  after  times  was  the 


So 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


principal  centre  of  his  worship,  was  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
burning  mountain  Mosychlos. 

Another  version  of  the  myth  has  it  that  Hera,  ashamed  of 
the  decrepit  form  which  he  presented  at  his  birth,  threw  him 
with  her  own  hands  from  Olympos.  Falling  into  the  sea,  he 
was  picked  up  by  Thetis  and  Eurynome,  was  cared  for  by 
them,  remained  for  nine  years  in  the  abode  of  the  sea-gods, 
none  but  they  knowing  his  whereabouts,  and  executed  there 
many  wonderfully  clever  examples  of  handiwork.  It  may  be 
that  this  belief  originated  in  observing  the  nearness  of  volcanic 
mountains  to  the  sea-shore,  and  the  fact  of  whole  islands,  like 
the  modern  Santorin,  being  suddenly  thrown  up  from  the  sea 
by  volcanic  force.  Among  the  works  which  he  fashioned  in 
the  palace  of  the  sea-gods  was  a  cunningly  devised  throne, 
which  he  presented  to  Hera,  as  a  punishment  for  casting  him 
out  of  heaven,  knowing  that  when  she  sat  down  on  it  she 
would  be  locked  within  its  secret  chains  so  firmly  that  no 
power  but  his  could  free  her.  This  happened,  and  Ares  went 
to  bring  him  by  force  to  her  assistance,  but  was  compelled  to 
retreat  in  fear  of  the  fire  brand  with  which  Hephaestos  assailed 
him.  At  last  Dionysos,  the  god  of  wine,  succeeded  by  his 
soft  conciliatory  speech  in  restoring  friendship  between  mother 
and  son,  and  her  bonds  were  forthwith  undone.  Perhaps  it 
is  from  this  intimacy  with  Dionysos  that  he  is  said  to  have 
once  appeared  as  cup-bearer  in  Olympos,  on  which  occasion 
the  assembled  deities  could  not  contain  themselves  with 
laughter  at  the  droll  figure  limping  from  couch  to  couch.  It 
seems  to  be  the  unsteady  flicker  of  flame  that  is  represented 
in  the  lameness  of  the  fire-god,  and  it  may  have  been  the 
genial  influence  of  the  hearth  which  was  the  source  of  the 
quaint  stories  about  him. 


HEPHAESTOS,  OR  VULCAN. 


8l 


From  being  originally  god  of  fire,  Hephaestos  naturally  de¬ 
veloped  into  god  of  those  arts  and  industries  dependent  on 
fire,  especially  the  arts  of  pottery  and  working  in  metal.  He 
was  the  artist  god  who  worked  in  a  smoky  smithy  down  in  the 
heart  of  burning  mountains,  and  produced  clever  works  of 
dazzling  beauty,  which  he  gave  freely  away  to  gods  and  to 
favourite  heroes.  For  Zeus  he  made  the  dreaded  aegis  and  a 
sceptre;  for  Achilles  and  Memnon  their  armour;  for  him¬ 
self  two  wonderful  handmaidens  of  gold,  who,  like  living 
beings,  would  move  about  and  assist  him  as  he  walked  ;  and 
when  Homer  has  to  describe  any  bronze  work  of  great  beauty, 
his  highest  praise  is  always  that  it  was  the  work  of  Hephaestos. 
The  throne  which  he  made  for  Hera,  and  the  net  in  which  he 
caught  Aphrodite  and  Ares,  have  already  been  mentioned. 

From  being  god  of  the  warmth  within  the  earth — of  vol¬ 
canic  fire,  Hephaestos  came  also,  when  the  fertility  of  a  vol¬ 
canic  soil  became  known  by  experience,  to  be  .  looked  on  as 
one  who  aided  the  spread  of  vegetation,  this  function  of  his 
being  recognized  most  in  the  spread  of  the  vine,  which  thrives 
and  bears  its  best  fruit  on  volcanic  soil.  It  was  from  know¬ 
ledge  of  this  fact,  no  doubt,  that  the  idea  arose  of  the  close 
friendship  between  him  and  the  wine-god  Dionysos,  which 
we  find  exemplified  partly  in  the  joint  worship  of  these  two 
deities,  and  partly  in  the  story  already  told,  of  how  Dionysos 
led  Hephaestos  back  to  Olympos,  and  smoothed  his  differ¬ 
ences  with  the  other  gods. 

■  His  worship  was  traceable  back  to  the  earliest  times, 
Lemnos  being  always  the  place  most  sacred  to  him.  There, 
at  the  foot  of  the  burning  mountain  Mosychlos,  which  is  now 
extinct,  stood  a  very  ancient  temple  of  the  god — on  the  very 

spot,  it  was  said,  where  Prometheus  stole  the  heavenly  fire, 

6 


82 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


and  for  the  theft  was  taken  away  among  the  Caucasus  moun¬ 
tains,  there  nailed  alive  to  a  rock  by  Hephaestos,  and  com¬ 
pelled  to  suffer  every  day  an  eagle  sent  by  Zeus  to  gnaw  his 
liver,  which  daily  grew  afresh.  A  somewhat  gloomy  cere¬ 
mony  of  expiating  this  theft  of  fire  took  place  annfially  in  the 
island,  all  fires  being  put  out,  and  forbidden  to  be  relit  until 

■*T 

the  return  of  the  ship  that  had  been  despatched  to  the  sacred 
island  of  Delos  to  fetch  new  fire.  Then,  after  being  nine 
days  extinguished,  all  the  fires  in  dwelling-houses  and  in 
work-shops  were  rekindled  by  the  new  flame. 

Next  to  Lemnos,  perhaps  the  most  important  seat  of  his 
worship  was  Athens,  where  the  unusually  large  number  of 
persons  employed  in  the  potteries  and  in  metal-working  recog¬ 
nized  him  as  their  patron  god,  and  associating  him  with 
Athene,  held  annually  in  October  a  festival  called  Chalkeia, 
in  honour  of  both.  In  the  same  month  occurred  the  festival 
Apaturia,  at  which,  by  the  side  of  Zeus  and  Athene  a  pro¬ 
minent  place  was  assigned  to  Hephaestos  in  his  capacity  of 
god  of  the  hearth,  and  protector  of  the  domestic  life  which 
gathered  round  it.  On  this  occasion  sacrifices  were  offered 
at  the  hearth,  and  a  public  procession  took  place  of  men  clad 
in  festival  garments,  carrying  lighted  torches  and  singing 
songs  in  his  praise.  Again,  the  torch  race,  which  formed  part 
of  the  Panathenaic  games,  was  intended  to  commemorate  the 
theft  of  fire  by  Prometheus.  In  connection  with  this  com¬ 
munity  of  worship  existing  between  Athene  and  Hephaestos 
at  Athens,  it  was  said  that  he  once  endeavoured  to  obtain  the 
love  of  the  goddess,  and  that  even  though  this  failed  she  had 
devoted  special  care  to  Erichthonios,  the  offspring  of  his  in¬ 
tercourse  with  Gaea,  the  goddess  of  the  earth. 

In  Sicily  Hephaestos  had  a  temple  on  Mount  Etna,  which 


HEPHAESTOS,  OR  VULCAN. 


83 


was  watched  by  dogs  possessed  of  the  faculty  of  distinguishing 
the  pious  from  the  impious  and  profane,  whose  approach  they 
fiercely  resisted.  His  worship  had  also  spread  to  lower  Italy 
and  the  Campania. 

In  Rome  it  was  said  that  Vulcan  had  a  temple  as  early  as 
the  time  of  Romulus,  who,  in  fact,  caused  it  to  be  erected, 
and  instituted  the  festival  called  Vulcanalia,  which  was  wont 
to  be  held  on  the  23d  of  August,  the  ceremony  consisting  of 
a  sacrifice  for  the  purpose  of  averting  all  the  mishaps  that 
arise  from  the  use  of  fire  and  lights ;  for  the  days  were  then 
beginning  to  be  noticeably  shorter,  and  the  necessity  of  light 
to  work  by  in  the  evenings  to  be  felt. 

The  wife  of  Hephaestos,  according  to  the  Iliad,  was 
Charis,  but  the  popular  belief  of  later  times  assigned  that 
place  to  Aphrodite.  By  neither  had  he  any  children. 

In  works  of  art  Hephaestos  is  represented  as  an  aged  bearded  man,  with 
^erious  furrowed  face,  wearing  a  short  chiton  or  exomis  and  a  pointed  cap  or 
pilos,  the  mark  of  workmen  or  fishermen  (which  Odysseus  also  wears),  ham¬ 
mering  at  an  anvil,  his  attitude  showing  the  lameness  of  which  the  myth 
speaks.  On  the  early  coins  of  Lemnos  he  appears  without  a  beard.  One  of 
the  favourite  subjects  both  of  poets  and  artists  was  the  story  of  his  catching 
Hera  in  the  throne  which  he  gave  her,  the  ludicrousness  of  it  making  it  an 
attractive  subject  for  the  ancient  comedy.  On  a  painted  vase  in  the  British 
Museum  is  a  scene  from  a  comedy  in  which  Hera  appears  seated  on  the 
throne,  while  Ares  and  Hephaestos  are  engaged  in  combat  before  her.  Another 
scene  which  frequently  occurs  on  the  painted  vases  is  that  in  which  Hephaestos 
appears  on  his  way  back  to  Olympos  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  riding  on  a 
mule,  or  walking,  and  accompanied  by  Dionysos,  Sileni,  and  nymphs.  At  the 
birth  of  Athene  it  was  he  who  split  open  the  head  of  Zeus  to  let  the  goddess 
come  forth,  and  in  the  frequent  representations  of  this  scene  on  the  vases  he 
appears  hammer  in  hand.  At  other  times  we  find  him  fashioning  the  armour 
of  Achilles  or  fastening  Prometheus  to  the  rock. 


84 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


APHRODITE,  OR  VENUS, 

(PLATES  VIII.,  IX.,  AND  XXVIII.,) 

Was  the  goddess  of  love  in  that  wide  sense  of  the  word  which 
in  early  times  embraced  also  the  love  of  animals,  and  the  love 
which  was  thought  to  be  the  cause  of  productiveness  through¬ 
out  nature.  Accordingly  we  find  in  her  character,  side  by 
side  with  what  is  beautiful  and  noble,  much  that  is  coarse  and 
unworthy.  In  the  best  times  of  Greece  the  refined  and 
beautiful  features  of  her  worship  were  kept  in  prominence, 
both  in  poetry  and  art ;  but  these,  when  times  of  luxury  suc¬ 
ceeded,  had  to  give  way  to  impurities  of  many  kinds. 

The  feelings  awakened  by  observing  the  productive  power 
of  nature  had,  it  would  seem,  given  rise  to  a  divine  personifi¬ 
cation  of  love  in  very  remote  early  times  among  the  nations 
of  the  East.  The  Phoenicians  called  this  personification  As- 
tarte,  and  carried  her  worship  with  them  wherever  they  es-* 
tablished  factories  or  markets  in  Greece,  in  the  islands  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  on  to  Italy.  The  early  Greeks  coming 
in  contact  with  these  traders,  and  obtaining  from  them  a 
knowledge  of  coinage,  weights,  measures,  and  other  necessa¬ 
ries  of  commerce  and  trade — including,  it  is  said,  a  system 
of  writing — appear  to  have  transferred  some  of  the  functions 
of  the  oriental  goddess  to  their  own  Aphrodite,  as,  for  in¬ 
stance,  the  function  of  protecting  commerce.  The  earliest 
known  Greek  coins — those  of  ^Egina — the  weights  of  which 
correspond  accurately  with  the  oriental  standard,  have  the 
figure  of  a  tortoise,  the  well-known  symbol  of  Aphrodite. 

How  much  else  of  the  character  of  their  goddess  the  Greeks 
may  have  derived  from  the  Phoenicians  it  would  be  impossi- 


IX. 


L 


' 

/ 


APHRODITE,  OR  VENUS. 


85 


ble  to  say.  But  the  extraordinary  zeal  with  which  she  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  worshipped  in  Cyprus,  Cytherea,  Corinth,  Car¬ 
thage,  Sicily,  and  wherever  in  early  times  the  Phoenicians  had 
made  settlements,  may  signify  that  others  of  her  functions 
besides  that  of  protecting  commerce  had  been  borrowed  from 
the  oriental  goddess.  The  older  Aphrodite  worshipped  in 
Greece  previous  to  the  introduction  of  Phoenician  elements  in 
her  character  is  described  as  a  daughter  of  Zeus  (Iliad  v. 
312)  and  Dione,  and  through  her  mother  was  associated  with 
the  ancient  worship  «.t  Dodona. 

The  younger  goddess,  on  the  other  hand,  is  described 
(Hesiod,  Theogony,  188-206)  as  the  offspring  of  Uranos, 
born  among  the  foam  of  the  sea,  first  stepping  on  land  in 
Cyprus,  and  styled  Anadyomene,  or  “she who  came  out  of 
the  sea.”  Under  the  title  of  Urania  she  was  regarded  as  a 
personification  of  that  power  of  love  which  was  thought  to 
unite  heaven,  earth,  and  sea  into  one  harmonious  system,  and 
as  such  was  distinguished  from  Aphrodite  Pandemos,  the 
personification  of  love  among  men.  As  the  goddess  born  of 
the  foam  of  the  sea,  she  naturally  came  to  be  held  in  venera¬ 
tion  by  the  fishermen  and  sailors  on  the  coast  as  the  goddess 
of  the  smiling  sea,  and  the  cause  of  prosperous  voyages. 
Hence  it  was  the  custom  in  the  island  of  H^gina  to  follow  up 
the  sacrifice  and  banquet  in  honour  of  Poseidon  with  a  festival 
of  great  rejoicing  and  excitement  in  honour  of  Aphrodite. 
In  Knidos  she  was  styled  and  worshipped  as  goddess  of  the 
peaceful  sea ;  a  character  which  is  symbolized  by  the  dolphin 
frequently  given  her  as  an  attribute.  The  island  of  Cytherea 
(Cerigo)  derived  its  name  from  one  of  her  titles,  Cythere, 
the  belief  being  that  she  had  appeared  there  before  landing 
on  Cyprus. 


86 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


The  earlier  and  pure  Greek  phase  of  her  character,  in  which 
she  is  called  a  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Dione,  was  that  of  a 
goddess  who  presides  over  human  love ;  she  is  described  as 
accompanied  by  her  son  Eros  (Amor  or  Cupid),  the  Cha- 
rites  (Graces),  the  Horse,  Himeros  (God  of  the  desire  of 
love),  Pothos  (God  of  the  anxieties  of  love),  and  Peitho 
(Suadela,  or  the  soft  speech  of  love).  But  her  special  favour¬ 
ite  was  the  young  rosy  shepherd  Adonis  ;  her  grief  at  his 
death,  which  was  caused  by  a  wild  boar,  being  so  great  that 
she  would  not  allow  the  lifeless  body  to  be  taken  from  her 
arms  until  the  gods  consoled  her  by  decreeing  that  her  lover 
might  continue  to  live  half  the  year,  during  the  spring  and 
summer,  on  the  earth,  while  she  might  spend  the  other  half 
with  him  in  the  lower  world,  beside  Persephone  (Proser¬ 
pina)  ;  a  reference  to  the  change  of  seasons,  which  finds  its 
explanation  in  the  fact  of  Aphrodite  being  also  goddess  of  gar¬ 
dens  and  flowers.  Her  presence  in  nature  was  felt  in  spring, 
her  absence  in  winter.  This  change  of  the  seasons  was  further 
observed  and  celebrated  by  a  festival  in  honour  of  Adonis,  in 
the  course  of  which  a  figure  of  him  was  produced,  and  the 
ceremony  of  burial,  with  weeping  and  songs  of  wailing,  gone 
through;  after  which  a  joyful  shout  was  raised,  “Adonis  lives, 
and  is  risen  again  !”  She  was  called  Adonaia  and  Adonias, 
with  reference  to  this  love  passage.  Next  to  him  her  chief 
favourite  was  Anchises,  to  whom  she  bore  ^Eneas,  who 
through  his  son  Ascanius,  or  Julius,  became,  as  story  goes, 
the  founder  of  the  great  Julian  family  in  Rome.  With  regard 
to  the  story  of  Pygmalion,  the  Adonis  of  Cyprus,  into 
whose  statue  of  her  she  breathed  life  on  the  occasion  of  one 
of  her  festivals,  perhaps  the  same  meaning  is  intended  to  be 
conveyed  as  in  the  alternate  life  and  death  of  Adonis — that  is, 


APHRODITE,  OR  VENUS. 


87 


the  alternate  fervour  and  coldness  of  love,  or  the  alternate 
bloom  and  frost  of  nature.  r 

The  husband  of  Aphrodite  was  Hephaestos  (Vulcan),  whose 
manner  of  punishing  her  when  he  found  her  in  the  company 
of  Ares  has  already  been  related.  Among  her  children,  but 
not  by  Hephaestos,  were  Eros  (Amor),  and  Anteros, 
Hymen,  and  Hermaphroditus. 

But  if  she  had  favours  for  some  she  had  strong  antipathies 
for  others,  and  proved  this  spirit  on  Hippolytos,  whom  she 
slew;  on  Polyphonte,  whom  she  changed  into  an  owl;  on 
Arsinoe  whom  she  turned  to  stone;  and  Myrrha,  whom  she 
transformed  into  a  myrtle  tree.  Of  her  strife  and  competi¬ 
tion  with  Hera  and  Athene  for  the  prize  of  beauty,  which  the 
Trojan  prince,  Paris,  awarded  to  her,  we  shall  give  an  account 
later  on,  in  connection  with  the  narrative  of  the  Trojan  war. 

As  a  result  of  her  power  to  unite  by  means  of  love  all 
beings,  whether  in  heaven,  or  earth,  or  in  blackest  Tartaros, 
she  came  to  be  viewed  as  a  goddess  presiding  over  married 
life  and  marriage  ceremonies.  She  had  a  number  of  temples 
in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  but  none  of  them  so  splendidly  deco¬ 
rated  as  that  in  the  town  of  Paphos,  whither  thousands  of 
visitors  streamed  to  take  part  in  the  annual  festival  and 
rejoicings  in  her  honour.  There  also  she  had  an  oracle,  and, 
as  Urania,  was  worshipped  jointly  with  Ares  (Mars);  the 
latter  fact  showing  that  her  connection  with  this  god  was- 
founded  in  the  religious  belief  of  the  people.  At  times,  and 
particularly  in  her  very  ancient  sanctuary  in  the  island  of 
Cythere,  as  also  in  Sparta,  Argos,  and  on  the  Acropolis 
of  Corinth,  she  was  represented  armed. 

The  worship  of  Venus  did  not  become  general  in  Rome 
till  later  times.  A  festival,  called  Veneralia,  was  held  in 


88 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


her  honour  every  year,  a  great  part  of  the  ceremony  consisting 
of  nocturnal  dances  and  passionate  enjoyment  in  gardens  and 
among  blooming  arbours.  She  had  a  temple  on  the  Capitol, 
and  one  of  the  Colline  gates  was  consecrated  to  her.  The 
month  of  April  was  held  sacred  to  her,  for  then  the  flowers 
bud  and  plants  shoot;  or,  as  the  Greek  myth  expresses  it, 
Adonis  comes  back  from  the  under-world.  . 

The  symbols  of  Aphrodite  wrere  the  dove,  ram,  hare, 
dolphin,  swan,  and  tortoise,  with  the  rose  as  a  flower,  the 
myrtle  tree,  and  other  beautiful  plants,  the  apple,  and  fruits 
of  various  kinds. 

In  Paphos  the  earliest  form  or  image  under  which  she  was  worshipped  was 
that  of  a  ball  or  a  pyramid,  surrounded  with  burning  torches  or  candelabra,  as 
is  to  be  seen  on  the  coins  of  Cyprus ;  but  gradually,  as  art  advanced,  she  took 
a  finer  form,  fresh  charms  being  continually  added,  till  all  the  resources  of 
expressing  imperious  overpowering  beauty  were  exhausted.  In  the  best  days 
of  art  she  was  always  represented  draped,  in  later  times  nude,  and  in  various 
attitudes.  The  scene  of  her  birth  from  the  sea  was  represented  by  Pheidias, 
on  the  base  of  the  statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia,  as  taking  place  in  presence  of 
the  gods  of  Olympos,  she  being  received  first  by  Eros,  who  elsewhere  is  called 
her  son.  One  of  the  most  famous  pictures  of  Apelles  represented  her  as  rising 
out  of  the  sea.  To  indicate  her  connection  with  Ares  she  was  represented  as 
Venus  Victrix,  standing  with  one  foot  on  a  helmet  and  with  both  arms  raising 
a  shield.  Of  this  type  are  the  Venus  of  Capua  and  the  Venus  of  Milo.  In  a 
temple  erected  to  her  as  Euploia  or  goddess  of  prosperous  voyages,  in  Knidos, 
was  a  statue  of  her  by  Praxiteles,  which  was  celebrated  above  all  her  other 
statues  in  ancient  times  ;  and  of  which  the  so-called  Medicean  Venus  is 
believed  to  be  a  free  copy. 


PALLAS-ATHENE,  or  MINERVA, 

(PLATES  XI.  AND  XII.,) 

Called  also  Tritogeneia  or  Tritonia  and  Athenaea,  is 
usually  described,  in  the  myths  concerning  her  birth,  as  having 


. 


89 


PALLAS-ATHENE,  OR  MINERVA. 


sprung  into  life,  fully  armed,  from  the  head  of  Zeus,  with  its 
thick  black  locks,  all  heaven  and  earth  shaking  meanwhile,  the 
sea  tossing  in  .great  billows,  and  the  light  of  day  being  extin¬ 
guished.  Zeus,  it  was  said,  had  previously  swallowed  his  wife 
Metis  (Intelligence),  to  prevent  her  giving  birth  to  a  son.  The 
operation  of  laying  his  head  open,  that  Pallas  might  come  forth, 
was  performed  by  Hephsestos  (Vulcan),  or,  according  to 
other  versions  of  the  story,  Prometheus.  There  is,  however, 
another  myth,  which  ascribes  her  origin  to  a  connection  of 
Poseidon  (Neptune)  with  the  nymph  Tritonis,  adding  that 
Zeus  merely  adopted  her  as  his  daughter.  But  this  seems  to 
have  had  no  foundation  in  the  general  belief  of  the  people, 
and  to  have  been  only  an  invention  of  later  times,  when  her 
name,  Tritogeneia,  or  Tritonia,  had  become  unintelligible. 

No  being  connected  with  the  earth,  whether  deity  or  mortal, 
had  a  part  in  her  birth.  She  was  altogether  the  issue  only  of 
her  father,  the  god  of  heaven,  who,  as  the  myth  very  plainly 
•  characterizes  it,  brought  her  into  being  out  of  the  black  tem¬ 
pest-cloud,  and  amidst  the  roar  and  crash  of  a  storm.  Her 
character  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  forming  in  some  way 
a  complement  to  his.  The  purpose  for  which  she  was  brought 
into  existence  must  have  been  that  she  might  do  what  he  would 
plan,  but  as  the  supreme  and  impartial  god,  could  not  carry 
out.  She  is  at  once  fearful  and  powerful  as  a  storm,  and  in 
turn,  gentle  and  pure  as  the  warmth  of  the  sky  when  a  storm 
has  sunk  to  rest  and  an  air  of  new  life  moves  over  the  fresh¬ 
ened  fields. 

To  express  both  these  sides  of  her  character — terrible  and 
mighty  as  compared  with  open,  gentle,  and  pure — she  had  the 
double  name  of  Pallas-Athene  :  the  former  was  applied  to 
her  function  of  goddess  of  storms — she  who  carried  the  aegis 


9° 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


or  storm-shield  of  her  father.  '  And  further,  as  Pallas,  she 
became  the  goddess  of  battle — valiant,  conquering,  frighten¬ 
ing  with  the  sight  of  her  aegis  whole  crowds .  of  heroes  when 
they  vexed  her,  and  even  driving  Ares  before  her  with  her 
lightning  spear.  At  the-  same  time  the  soft,  gentle,  and 
heavenly  side  of  her  character  took  from  her  functions,  as 
goddess  of  battle,  that  desire  of  confused  slaughter  and  mas¬ 
sacre  which  distinguished  Ares,  and  formed  the  contrast  we 
have  already  mentioned  between  the  two  deities  of  war.  Pal¬ 
las  presides  over  battles,  but  only  to  lead  on  to  victory,  and 
through  victory,  to  peace  and  prosperity. 

When  the  war  has  been  fought  out,  and  that  peace  estab¬ 
lished  which — whether  it  be  amid  the  political  life  of  nations 
here  on  earth,  or  whether  it  be  amid  the  passions  of  individual 
men — is  always  the  result  of  conflict  and  war,  then  it  is  that 
the  goddess  Athene  reigns  in  all  gentleness  and  purity,  teach¬ 
ing  mankind  to  enjoy  peace,  and  instructing  them  in  all  that 
gives  beauty  to  human  life,  in  wisdom  and  art.  If  we  observe 
and  keep  clearly  before  our  minds  these  two  sides  of  her  char¬ 
acter,  the  inseparable  union  of  both,  and  their  action  and  re¬ 
action  upon  each  other,  we  shall  see  that  this  goddess,  P  alias  - 
Athene,  is  one  of  the  most  profound  conceptions  of  a  deep 
religious  feeling — a  being  into  whose  hands  the  pious  Greek 
could,  with  due  reverence,  commit  his  keeping. 

The  mutual  relation  of  these  two  sides  of  her  character  is 
sufficiently  obvious  in  the  various  myths  relating  to  the  god¬ 
dess.  The  principal  of  these  we  shall  proceed  to  narrate. 
But,  first,  we  must  call  attention  to  this  point,  that  Athene  is 
represented  in  the  myths  as  for  ever  remaining  a  virgin,  scorn¬ 
ing  the  affections  which  are  said  to  have  been  frequently 
offered  to  her.  Instead  of  suggesting  her  liability,  in  the 


PALLAS -ATHENE,  OR  MINERVA. 


91 


smallest  degree,  to  earthly  passions  and  foibles,  the  myth 
shows  admirably  that  she  was  a  divine  personification  of  mind, 
always  unfettered  in  its  movements ;  a  personification,  at  the 
same  time,  of  the  origin  of  mind  from  the  brain  of  the  su¬ 
preme  Divine  Being :  a  proof  that  mind  is  neither  of  a  male 
nor  of  a  female  order,  but  a  single  and  independent  power  at 
work  throughout  the  whole  of  nature. 

In  the  course  of  the  war  with  the  Giants  Pallas  rendered 
most  valuable  assistance  to  Zeus,  both  by  advice  and  deed ; 
being,  in  fact,  the  cause  of  his  calling  in  the  aid  of  Hera- 
kles,  and  thus  completing  successfully  the  subjugation  of  the 
rebels.  Single-handed  she  overpowered  the  terrible  giant 
Enkelados  ;  but  when  Zeus’  rule  was  at  last  firmly  estab¬ 
lished,  she  took  up  the  task  of  assisting  and  protecting  those 
heroes  on  earth  whom  she  found  engaged  in  destroying  -the 
grim  creatures  and  monsters  upon  it.  In  this  capacity  she 
was  the  constant  friend  of  Herakles  in  all  his  hardships  and 
adventures  (see  below),  and  of  Perseus,  whom  she  helped 
to  slay  the  Gorgon  Medusa,  whose  head  she  afterwards  wore 
upon  her  segis,  and  for  this  reason  obtained  the  name  of  Gor- 
gophone,  or  Gorgon  slayer.  Along  with  Hera  she  protected 
the  Argonauts,  while  to  her  assistance  was  due  the  success 
with  which  Theseus  (see  below)  overcame  and  slew  monsters 
of  all  kinds.  She  stood  by  the  Greeks  in  their  war  against 
Troy,  which  we  shall  describe  afterwards,  and  devised  the 
scheme  by  which,  after  ten  years’  duration,  it  was  brought  to 
a  close. 

But,  in  times  of  peace,  her  power  as ,  goddess  in  all  kinds 
of  skill  and  handicraft,  of  clearness  like  that  of  the  sky,  and 
of  mental  activity,  was  uniformly  exercised,  as  has  been  said, 
for  the  general  good  and  prosperity.  The  arts  of  spinning 


92 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


and  weaving  -were  described  as  of  her  invention.  She  taught 
how  to  tend  and  nurse  newly-born  infants ;  and  even  the  heal¬ 
ing  art  was  traced  back  to  her  among  other  gods.  The  flute, 
too,  was  her  invention.  As  became  the  goddess  of  war,  it 
was  her  duty  to  instruct  men  in  the  art  of  taming  horses,  of 
bridling  and  yoking  them  to  the  war-chariot — a  task  which  we 
find  her  performing  in  the  story  of  Bellerophon,  for  whom 
she  bridled  the  winged  horse  Pegasos;  and  in  the  story  of 
Erichthonios,  at  Athens,  the  first  mortal  who  learned  from 
her  how  to  harness  horses  to  chariots.  In  a  word,  she  was  the 
protectress  of  all  persons  employed  in  art  and  industry,  of 
those  whose  business  it  was  on  earth  to  instruct  and  educate 
mankind,  and  therefore  to  help  forward  the  general  happiness. 

The  principal  scene  of  her  influence  and  actions  was  Attica, 
that  district  of  Greece  which,  according  to  the  myth  related 
above,  she  obtained  as  her  special  and  peculiar  province,  after 
a  contest  for  it  with  Poseidon,  the  god  of  the  sea.  There 
her  worship  and  honour  surpassed  that  of  all  other  deities,  and 
from  her  was  named  the  chief  town  of  the  land.  The  visible 
proof  and  testimony  of  her  guardianship  of  Attica  was  the 
olive  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  which  she  created  in  the 
contest  with  Poseidon,  and  from  which  the  Athenians  be¬ 
lieved  all  the  olive  trees  of  Attica  to  have  spread.  In  the 
produce  of  the  olives  consisted  the  chief  wealth  of  the  land. 
Ancient  writers  relate  a  touching  story  concerning  this  olive 
tree  on  the  Acropolis,  which  reveals  how  firmly  the  belief  of 
their  goddess  was  rooted  in  the  minds  of  her  people.  When 
the  Persians  advanced  with  their  overwhelming  forces  against 
Greece,  it  is  said  that  Athene  presented  herself  at  the  throne 
of  her  father,  and  begged  for  the  preservation  of  her  city.  But 
fate  had  otherwise  decreed :  Athens  must  perish,  in  order  that 


PALLAS-ATHENE,  OR  MINERVA. 


93 


a  better  and  nobler  city  might  rise  from  its  ruins,  and  accor¬ 
dingly  Zeus  was  obliged  to  refuse  the  prayer  of  his  beloved 
daughter.  The  Athenians  took  to  their  fleet,  abandoning  al¬ 
together  the  city,  which  the  Persians  then  entered,  and  de¬ 
stroyed  utterly  with  fire  and  sword,  not  even  sparing  the  sacred 
olive  of  the  goddess.  But,  lo !  as  a  sign  that  she  had  not  for¬ 
saken  her  city  even  in  ruins,  there  sprang  suddenly  from 
the  root  which  remained  a  new  shoot,  which,  with  wonderful 
quickness,  grew  to  a  length  of  three  yards,  and  was  looked  on 
as  an  emblem  of  the  regeneration  of  the  city.  With  the  aid 
of  their  goddess  the  Athenians  fought  foremost  of  all  the  Greeks 
in  the  famous  sea-fight  that  ensued  at  Salamis,  in  which  the 
Persian  fleet,  though  vastly  superior  in  numbers,  was  wholly 
destroyed,  while  the  troops  on  the  mainland  were  compelled 
to  escape  with  shame  and  immense  losses  from  Greece. 

Among  the  great  variety  of  her  titles,  some  derived  from 
her  functions  as  a  goddess,  and  others  from  the  localities  where 
her  worship  had  a  special  hold  on  the  people,  we  find  Athene 
at  Elis  styled  “  mother,”  in  consequence  of  her  care  over  the 
nursing  of  children ;  in  Athens  and  several  other  places, 
Polias,  the  “  protectress  of  cities  ”  ;  Soteira,  the  ‘‘saviour”  ; 
Glaukopis,  “blue-eyed  goddess”;  Parthenos,  “  the  vir¬ 
gin  ”  ;  Hippia,  “  tamer  of  horses  ”  ;  Ergane,  “  mistress  of 
industry”,  Nike,  the  “victorious”;  and  Mechanitis, 
“  ingenious.”  Every  year  a  festival  lasting  several  days,  and 
called  Panathenaea,  was  held  in  her  honour  at  Athens,  to 
commemorate  the  part  she  had  taken  in  the  war  against  the 
Giants :  every  fourth  year — that  is,  every  third  year  of  the 
current  Olympiad — it  was  celebrated  with  redoubled  splen¬ 
dour.  This  festival  is  said  to  have  been  instituted  by  Theseus, 
or  at  least  to  have  first  derived  its  importance  from  him ;  in 


94 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


any  case  it  was  a  festival  of  very  great  antiquity.  Festal  pro¬ 
cessions  were  formed,  athletic  games  were  held,  while  sacrifices 
and  banquets  took  place  on  a  large  scale — all  the  Athenians, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad  in  colonies,  having  the  privilege 
of  taking  part.  The  prizes  in  the  games  consisted  of  large 
painted  earthenware  vases  filled  with  pure  olive  oil,  the  pro¬ 
duct  of  the  tree  sacred  to  Athene.  Of  these  vases  a  small 
number  have  been  preserved  down  to  our  times.  On  one  side 
is  painted  a  figure  of  the  goddess  striding  forward  in  the  atti¬ 
tude  of  hurling  her  spear,  with  a  column  on  each  side  of  her, 
to  indicate  the  race  course.  On  the  reverse  side  is  a  view  of 
the  contest  in  which  a  particular  vase  was  won.  But  perhaps 
the  chief  attraction  of  the  festival  was  the  procession  in  which 
a  new  robe  or  peplos,  woven  and  embroidered  for  the  goddess 
by  a  select  number  of  women  and  girls  in  Athens,  was  carried 

through  the  town  spread  like  a  sail  on  a  mast,  placed  on  a 

\ 

wagon  in  the  form  of  a  ship.  In  this  procession  it  appears 
as  if  the  whole  population  of  Attica  took  part,  the  youth  of 
the  nobility  on  horseback  or  in  chariots,  the  soldiery  in  arms, 
and  the  burgesses  with  their  wives  and  daughters  in  holiday 
attire.  The  new  robe  was  destined  for  the  very  ancient  statue 
of  Athene  which  was  preserved  in  the  Erechtheum.  This 
custom  of  placing  actual  drapery  on  statues  appears  to  have 
been  handed  down  from  remote  times,  when  the  art  of  sculp¬ 
ture  was  unequal  to  the  task  of  imitating  the  human  figure, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  statue  of  Athene,  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  dated  from  that  early  time.  The  magistrates 
of  Athens  offered  sacrifices  to  her  at  the  commencement  of 
spring.  The  services  of  her  sanctuary  were  conducted  by  two 
virgins  elected  for  the  period  of  one  year. 

In  Rome  the  worship  of  Minerva  was  conducted  with  as 


PALLAS-ATHENE,  OR  MINERVA. 


95 


much  zeal  as  that  of  Athene  at  Athens,  her  character  as  god¬ 
dess  of  wisdom  and  serious  thought  being  admirably  calculated 
to  attract  a  people  like  the  Romans.  She  was  the  protectress 
of  their  arts  and  industries,  of  the  domestic  operations  of 
spinning  and  weaving  and  embroidering,  just  as  she  was  among 
the  Greeks.  In  Rome  she  had  several  temples,  one  of  the 
oldest  of  them  being  that  on  the  Capitol.  A  festival  which 
lasted  from  March  19th  to  23d  was  annually  held  in  her 
honour.  But  the  object  connected  with  her,  which  the  Romans- 
venerated  above  all  things  else,  was  the  Palladium,  or  an¬ 
cient  figure  of  the  goddess,  the  story  of  which  was  that  it  had 
originally  fallen  from  heaven,  and  had  thereupon  become  the 
property  of  the  royal  family  of  Troy,  the  possession  of  it  being 
from  that  time  always  considered  an  assurance  of  the  safety  of 
that  city.  But  in  the  course  of  the  war  between  the  Greeks 
and  Trojans  it  was  secretly  carried  off  by  Diomedes  and 
Odysseus,  upon  which  followed  the  capture  of  the  town  by 
means  of  the  wooden  horse.  Another  version  of  the  story 
has  it  that  iEneas  took  it  with  him  when  he  fled  from  the 
city;  and  in  consequence  of  this  inconsistency  in  the  story  it 
happened  in  later  times  that  more  than  one  city  claimed  the  pos¬ 
session  of  the  real  Palladium — as,  for  example,  Argos,  Athens, 
and  Rome.  Wherever  it  was  believed  to  be,  there  the  firm 
conviction  existed  that  the  endurance  of  the  city  depended  on 
the  possession  of  the  image,  and  so  it  happened  afterwards 
that  the  expression  Palladium  was  employed  in  a  wider  sense 
to  objects  thought  to  be  of  similar  importance;  and  when, 
for  instance,  we  hear  of  the  “Palladium  of  Freedom  being 
carried  off,”  we  understand  that  the  principal  provision  and 
security  of  freedom  has  been  lost.  The  symbols  of  Athene 
were  the  owl,  the  cock,  the  snake,  and  the  olive  tree. 


96 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


In  works  of  art  Athene  generally  appears  as  a  virgin  of  serious  aspect,  armed 
with  helmet,  shield,  and  spear,  wearing  long  full  drapery,  and  on  her  breast 
the  aegis,  with  a  border  of  snakes,  and  the  face  of  Medusa  in  the  centre.  She 
is  often  accompanied  by  an  owl.  Of  the  many  statues  of  her,  the  two  most 
famous  in  antiquity  as  works  of  art  were  those  by  the  sculptor  Pheidias :  the 
one  of  gold  and  ivory  stood  in  her  great  temple  at  Athens,  the  Parthenon. 
Some  idea  is  given  of  it  by  Plate  XII.,  which  represents  a  restoration  from  a 
presumed  copy  of  the  original. 

The  other  was  of  bronze  (Plate  XI.),  colossal  in  size,  and  stood  on  the 
Acropolis,  towering  above  the  temple  just  named,  the  crest  of  her  helmet  and 
point  of  her  spear  being  visible  from  the  sea  as  far  away  as  Cape  Sunium,  the 
most  southern  point  of  Attica.  Her  attitude  was  that  of  preparing  to  hurl  her 
spear,  and  the  title  she  bore,  that  of  Promachos,  or  “  Van  of  Battle.”  A 
representation  of  the  statue  is  to  be  seen  on  the  coins  of  Athens  on  which  a 
view  of  the  Acropolis  is  given. 

The  last  record  we  have  of  the  statue  of  gold  and  ivory  is  in  the  year  375 
A.  D.,  how  and  when  it  perished  remaining  still  a  mystery.  The  attitude  of 
the  bronze  statue  exists,  it  is  believed,  in  several  small  statuettes,  of  which 
there  is  one  in  the  British  Museum,  which  was  found  in  Athens.  On  the 
painted  vases  we  find  many  representations  of  her  birth,  of  her  contest  with  the 
Giants,  of  her  assisting  heroes,  such  as  Perseus  and  Herakles,  in  their  exploits. 
The  subjects  of  the  sculptures,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  which  decorated 
the  pediments  of  the  Parthenon,  were,  in  the  front,  hbr  birth,  and  at  the  back, 
her  contest  with  Poseidon.  In  the  Erechtheum  at  Athens  was  an  ancient 
figure  of  the  goddess,  believed  to  have  fallen  from  heaven ;  while  another 
ancient  figure  of  her,  the  Palladium  properly  so  called,  was  preserved  in  the 
city  under  the  care  of  a  priestly  family  named  Byzigi.  It  also  was  believed 
to  have  fallen  from  heaven.  In  its  presence  was  held  a  court  for  the  trial  of 
cases  of  bloodshed. 

PHCEBOS-APOLLO  and  HELIOS,  or  SOL. 

(plate  XI.) 

From  the  sun  comes  our  physical  light,  but  that  light  is  at 
the  same  time  an  emblem  of  all  mental  illumination,  of  know¬ 
ledge,  truth,  and  right,  of  all  moral  purity ;  and  in  this  respect 
a  distinction  was  made  between  it  as  a  mental  and  a  physical 
phenomenon — a  distinction  which  placed  Phcebos-Apollo 


XII 


PHCEBOS-APOLLO  AND  HELIOS,  OR  SOL. 


97 


on  one  side  and  Helios  on  the  other.  Accordingly  Phcebos- 
Apollo  is  the  oracular  god  who  throws  light  on  the  dark  ways 
of  the  future,  who  slays  the  Python,  that  monster  of  darkness 
which  made  the  oracle  at  Delphi  inaccessible.  He  is  the  god 
of  music  and  song,  which  are  only  heard  where  light  and 
security  reign,  and  the  possession  of  herds  is  free  from  danger. 
Helios,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  physical  phenomenon  of 
light,  the  orb  of  the  sun,  which,  summer  and  winter,  rises  and 
sets  in  the  sky.  His  power  of  bringing  secrets  to  light  has 
been  already  seen  in  the  story  of  Vulcan  and  Venus. 

The  myth  of  Apollo  is,  like  that  of  Aphrodite,  one  of  the 
oldest  in  the  Greek  system,  but,  unlike  the  latter,  which  is  at 
least  partly  traceable  to  oriental  influence,  is  a  pure  growth 
of  the  Greek  mind.  No  doubt  certain  oriental  nations  had 
deities  of  the  sun  and  of  light  similar  in  some  points  to  Apollo, 
but  this  only  proves  the  simple  fact  that  they  viewed  the 
movements  of  the  sun  and  the  operations  of  light  in  a  general 
way  similarly  to  the  Greeks.  We  have  seen  in  the  preceding 
chapters  how  the  sky,  earth,  sea,  and  lower  world  were  per¬ 
sonified  by  divine  beings  of  a  high  order,  while  in  the  same 
way  other  forces  and  powers  in  nature  were  imagined  as 
beings.  In  the  myth  of  Apollo  we  shall  find  represented  the 
various  operations  of  the  eternal  light  of  the  sun. 

It  is  the  sun’s  rays,  or  the  arrows  of  Apollo,  that  every¬ 
where,  as  the  fields,  and  gardens  teach  us,  quicken  life,  and 
foster  it  towards  ripeness ;  through  them  a  new  life  springs  all 
around,  and  in  the  warmth  of  their  soft,  kindly  light  the 
jubilant  voice  of  nature  is  heard  and  awakens  an  echo  in  the 
human  soul.  At  the  same  time  these  arrows  destroy  the  life 
of  plants  and  animals ;  eyen  man  falls  under  them  in  southern 
climates,  such  as  Greece.  Their  light  penetrates  to  dark 
7 


98 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


corners,  and  is  capable  of  reaching  to  inmost  recesses.  All 
these  ideas  are  represented  in  the  myth  of  Apollo,  who  is 
therefore  conceived  in  various  ways  corresponding  to  the  genial 
radiance  of  the  sun,  with  all  its  friendly  influences:  (i)  as  the 
personification  of  youth  and  beauty ;  (2)  as  god  of  earthly 
blessings;  (3)  as  god  of  the  herds  that  graze  on  the  fields 
which  are  warmed  by  him, — a  character  in  which  he  appeared 
herding  the  cattle  of  Laomedon,  which  multiplied  largely 
under  his  care,  and  when  alone  piping  on  his  flute,  till  the  wild 
beasts  were  attracted  from  their  dens ;  (4)  as  god  of  medicine, 
who  provided  for  the  growth  of  healing  plants;  (5)  as  god  of 
music,  for  everywhere  were  heard  happy,  joyful  sounds,  when 
his  kindly  beams  spread  light  and  warmth  over  nature ;  (6)  as 
god  of  oracles  which  reveal  the  secrets  of  the  future,  as  the 
light  of  heaven  dispels  all  darkness,  and  detests  nocturnal  gloom. 

The  sun  appears  ever  young  and  powerful  in  the  heavens, 
and  so  also  must  eternal  youth,  strength,  and  endurance  be 
ascribed  to  Apollo.  For  this  reason  he  came  to  be  a  pro¬ 
tector  of  youth  when  engaged  in  athletic  contests,  as  well  as 
in  war.  But  summer  heat  produces  plagues,  and  so  it  was 
necessary  to  view  Apollo  as  the  cause  of  the  same,  as  the 
god  of  death,  whose  unerring  arrows  carry  destruction  with 
them.  In  this  latter  phase  of  his  character  we  find  him  styled 
Karneios,  and  worshipped  with  particular  zeal  in  Sparta,  a 
festival  being  held  annually  in  his  honour  in  the  month  of 
August,  the  entire  population  withdrawing  from  the  town  and 
for  several  days  encamping  in  tents  in  the  neighbourhood, 
like  a  besieging  army — the  object  being,  by  living  in  tents,  to 
avoid  the  injurious  effects  of  the  intense  heat  of  the  dog-days. 
The  name  of  this  festival  was  Karneia.  As  a  religious  cere¬ 
mony,  the  intention  of  it  was  to  appease  the  dreaded  god,  and 


PHCEBOS- APOLLO  AND  HELIOS,  OR  SOL. 


99 


accordingly  it  was  attended  with  great  reverence  in  Sparta, 
and  from  thence  transplanted  to  Kyrene,  a  Greek  colony  on 
the  north  coast  of  Africa,  to  the  islands  of  Rhodes  and  Sicily, 
and  to  the  Greek  cities  in  lower  Italy — such  as  Tarentum  and 
Sybaris.  The  finest  of  the  temples  in  honour  of  this  Apollo 
was  at  Amyklae . 

Another  phase  of  his  character,  in  which  his  destroying 
power  is  combined  with  his  function  as  god  of  youth  and 
blooming  vegetation,  is  represented  in  the  myth  from  which 
he  derived  the  title  of  Hyakinthios,  and  enjoyed  a  form  of 
worship  which  was  for  the  most  part  peculiar  to  the  Pelo- 
ponnesos,  the  modern  Morea,  extending  over  the  whole  of 

the  south  coast  of  it,  to  Sikyon,  Messenia,  Amyklae,  and 

> 

Sparta.  It  was  accompanied  by  laments  sung  from  place  to 
place,  and  by  poetic  competitions,  the  idea  to  be  conveyed  in 
the  whole  ceremony  being  the  transitoriness  of  nature,  and  the 
return  of  life  again  in  course  of  time.  In  this  spirit  the  fes¬ 
tival  of  the  Hyakinthia  was  celebrated  annually  at  Sparta  in 
July,  and  lasted  nine  days,  commencing  with  sadness  and  ex¬ 
pressions  of  grief,  and  concluding  with  joyous  excitement. 

The  myth  to  which  this  festival  related  tells  how  Apollo 
accidentally  killed,  in  throwing  his  disc,  the  beautiful  Hya- 
*  kinthos,  whom  he  dearly  loved,  the  youngest  son  of  Amy- 
klas;  or,  in  another  version,  how  Zephyros,  the  wind-god, 
who  also  loved  the  boy,  hurled  back  the  disc  at  the  head  of 
Hyakinthos,  out  of  jealousy  towards  Apollo.  The  sorrow  at 
the  beginning  of  the  festival  of  the  Hyakinthia  was  to  com¬ 
memorate  his  death,  while  the  belief  that  he  had  been  trans¬ 
formed  into  the  flower  which  sprang  up  where  his  blood  fell, 
and  bears  his  name,  gave  occasion  afterwards  to  happy  feel¬ 
ings  of  confidence  in  his  return.  Clearly  the  object  of  the 


IOO 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


myth,  like  that  of  Persephone,  was  to  point  to  the  alter¬ 
nating  decay  and  return  of  life  in  nature,  which  in  this  in¬ 
stance  is  conceived  under  the  form  of  a  youth,  the  disc  of 
Apollo  being  equally  clearly  a  symbol  of  the  sun,  which 
scorches  up  vegetation. 

A  similar  idea  seems  to  run  through  the  story  which  relates 
how  Apollo  and  Artemis,  taking  offence  at  Niobe  because, 
with  a  mother’s  pride,  she  had  boasted  herself  higher  than 
Leto  as  the  mother  of  beautiful  children,  shot  down  her 
children, — Apollo  the  sons,  and  Artemis  the  daughters. 
When  one  after  another  had  fallen  before  the  angry  deities, 
all  but  the  youngest  daughter,  Niobe,  with  the  child  cling¬ 
ing  to  her,  implored  them  in  anguish  to  spare  the  last  of  her 
many  children,  but  could  not  avert  the  fatal  shaft.  When  it 
struck,  her  mother’s  heart  became  like  a  stone,  and  she  refused 
to  murmur  or  complain.  -She  was  transformed,  it  was  said, 
into  a  rugged  rock,  down  which  tears  trickled  silently  (see 
plate  XIII.).  . 

While  bringing  sometimes  a  pleasant  death  with  his  arrows, 
Apollo  at  other  times,  as  during  the  Trojan  war,  when  he  took 
part  against  the  Greeks,  appears  to  exercise  his  destroying 
power  with  irresistible  fury.  Whole  ranks  of  fighting  men 
fall  dead  when  he  shakes  his  aegis,  and  the  walls  raised  by  the 
Greeks  tumble  like  structures  of  sand  made  by  children  at  play. 

As  god  of  the  sun  in  its  friendly  influence  upon  the  face  of 
nature,  we  find  Apollo  styled  Thargelios,  and  a  festival, 
called  Thargelia,  being  held  in  his  honour  at  Athens  in  the 
month  of  May,  to  celebrate  the  ripening  of  the  fruits  of  the 
field  under  the  warmth  of  the  sun,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
serve  as  a  festival  of  expiation  in  memory  of  the  human  sacri¬ 
fices  of  ancient  days.  In  August  occurred  another  festival  at 


XI I  i 


I 


f 


I 


t 


. 


PH CEBOS- APOLLO  AND  HELIOS,  OR  SOL. 


IOI 


Athens,  called  Metageitnia,  at  which  Apollo,  as  god  of 
harvest  and  plenty,  was  thought  of  as  entertaining  the  other 
gods  and  encouraging  neighbourly  feelings  among  his  wor¬ 
shippers.  In  October  the  first  fruits  of  the  field  were  presented 
to  him  as  a  sacrifice,  and  in  September  was  held  a  festival  at 
which  he  was  invoked  as  a  helper  in  battle.  Under  the  title 
of  Nomios  he  was  regarded  by  herdsmen  as  their  patron  god. 
But  the  genial  influence  of  the  sun  is  felt  on  the  sea  as  well  as 
on  land,  and  for  this  reason  he  was  styled  Delphinios,  and 
in  this  capacity  worshipped,  among  other  places,  at  Athens, 
where  his  temple,  called  the  Delphinion,  was  in  early  times 
a  place  of  refuge  and  a  court  for  the  trial  of  capital  crimes. 
An  annual  festival  was  held  in  May,  called  Delphinia,  to 
commemorate  the  tribute  of  seven  boys  and  seven  girls,  whom 
Athens  had  been  compelled  in  remote  times  to  send  every  year 
to  Crete  to  be  offered  as  sacrifices  to  the  Minotaur. 

As  a  god  of  the  sun  in  its  annual  course,  Apollo  was  thought 
to  spend  the  winter  away  in  a  northern  region  among  a 
mythical  people  called  Hyperboreans,  to  whom  it  was  always 
light.  As  the  winter  approached  poets  sang  farewell  to  him. 
At  his  birth  Zeus  had  given  him  a  mitra  (or  cap),'  a  lyre,  and 
a  car  drawn  by  swans,  in  which  he  was  to  proceed  to  Delphi, 
but  the  swans  carried  him  off  to  the  bright  land  of  the  Hyper¬ 
boreans.  When  the  summer  came  the  priests  of  Delphi  hailed 
his  return  in  festal  songs.  The  voice  of  the  nightingale  wel¬ 
comed  him  back.  A  peculiar  festival,  the  Daphnephoria, 
was  held  at  Thebes  every  eighth  year  in  honour  of  Apollo 
Ismenios,  the  ceremony  consisting  of  a  procession  in  which 
was  carried  a  branch  of  olive  hung  with  wreaths  and  represen¬ 
tations  of  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  and  planets,  and  called  the 
.Kopo.  From  the  statement  that  the  number  of  wreaths  was 


102 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


365,  to  indicate  the  days  of  the  year,  it  may  be  gathered  that 
the  festival  as  we  know  it  was  not  of  very  high  antiquity, 
symbols  so  obvious  as  this  being  usually  of  late  origin.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  may  be  supposed,  from  the  character  of 
Apollo  as  sun-god,  that  the  ceremony  had  existed  in  a  simpler 
form  in  early  times.  The  number  seven  was  sacred  to  him. 
Sacred  swans  made  a  circle  seven  times  round  the  island  of 
Delos  at  his  birth,  which  occurred  on  the  seventh  day  of  the 
month.  From  this  he  took  the  title  of  Hebdomeios. 

One  of  the  oldest  forms  of  his  worship  appears  to  have  been 
that  in  which  he  was  regarded  simply  as  god  of  light,  and 
styled  Lykios,  the  original  centre  of  this  worship  being  Lycia 
in  the  south-west  of  Asia  Minor. 

Turning  now  to  that  phase  of  his  character  in  which  he 
represents  the  light  of  the  sun  as  the  symbol  of  an  all-seeing 
and  all-knowing  power,  we  find  Apollo  regarded  as  the  great 
god  of  oracles,  with  Delphi  as  the  principal  centre  of  his 
activity.  His  oracles  were  there  communicated  through  a 
priestess,  with  the  title  of  Pythia,  who  sat  aloft  on  a  sacred 
tripod  of  gold  which  stood  above  the  opening  of  a  chasm  in 
the  rock.  Out  of  this  chasm  rose  a  continuous  stream  of  cold 
vapour,  which  drove  the  priestess  into  a  state  of  frenzy  when 
she  sat  above  it.  Her  method  of  prophesying  was  by  uttering 
in  her  frenzy  single  words  or  sounds,  which  persons  educated 
for  the  purpose  caught  up  and  put  into  verse,  generally  in 
such  a  cunning  way  as  to  have,  instead  of  a  clear  incontro¬ 
vertible  meaning,  a  double  and  easily  mistaken  import. 

To  give  one  example:  the  oracle,  when  consulted  by  the 
Athenians  for  advice  as  to  how  to  meet  best  the  approach  of 
the  Persian  force,  returned  as  its  answer,  “Trust  to  your  cita¬ 
del  of  wood.”  This  the  Athenian  sages  misunderstood,  and 


PHCEBOS-APOLLO  AND  HELIOS,  OR  SOL. 


I03 


proceeded  to  have  the  Acropolis  protected  with  wooden 
bulwarks,  which  naturally  could  not  for  a  moment  resist  the 
enemy.  Themistocles,  however,  and  the  younger  men  of  the 
day  declared  that  the  words  referred  to  the  fleet,  and  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  persuading  the  people  to  take  to  the  ships,  the 
result  of  which  was  the  glorious  victory  of  Salamis.  Had  the 
interpretation  of  the  sages  been  accepted  generally,  the  oracle 
would  have  had  the  answer  ready,  that  it  meant  the  fleet.  It 
was  only  by  such  tricks  that  the  oracle  of  Delphi,  clever  and 
far-seeing  as  the  priests  were,  could  have  maintained  its  repu¬ 
tation  for  unerringness  and  its  vast  influence. 

Of  the  same  nature,  but  apparently  older,  were  the  oracles 
of  Apollo  in  Asia  Minor ;  as  for  instance  those  of  Colophon 
and  Didymi  near  Miletus,  the  latter  of  which  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  priestly  family  of  the  Branchidae.  Sometimes  the  god 
exercised  the  power  of  communicating  the  prophetic  gift  to 
mortals,  as  he  did  to  Cassandra,  and  to  Deiphobe,  a 
daughter  of  Glaukos.  The  latter  lived  in  a  grotto  beside  the 
town  of  Cumae,  in  the  Campania  of  Italy,  and  was  known  by 
the  name  of  the  Cumsean  Sibyl.  It  was  from  her  that 
Tarquin  the  Proud,  the  last  king  of  Rome,  acquired  the  three 
Sibylline  books  which  contained  important  prophecies  con¬ 
cerning  the  fate  of  Rome,  and  were  held  in  great  reverence 
by  the  Romans.  They  were  preserved  carefully  in  the  Capitol 
down  to  the  time  of  Sulla,  when  they  perished  in  a  fire.  In 
Greece  also  was  a  famous  seer  or  prophet,  and  favourite  of 
Apollo  Epimenides,  of  whom  the  myth  reports  that  when 
a  herdsman  he  fell  asleep  in  a  grotto,  slept  for  fifty-six  years, 
and  on  awakening  found  himself  endowed  with  the  prophetic 
gift  in  a  high  degree. 

Connected  with  his  gift  of  prophecy  was  his  power  of  music. 


io4 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


For  not  only  were  the  oracles  expressed  in  verse,  but  the 
strains  of  music,  when  spontaneous,  were  thought  to  originate 
in  an  inspired  foresight  into  the  future.  As  god  of  music  he 
was  leader  of  the  Muses,  Musagetes  ;  and  himself  played 
on  a  wonderful  lyre  which  Hermes  had  made  for  him. 

At  Delphi  he  was  styled  Apollo  Pythios,  and  enjoyed 
several  annual  festivals,  such  as  the  Theophania,  to  cele¬ 
brate  his  return  from  the  Hyperboreans,  and  the  Theoxenia, 
at  which,  it  being  harvest  time,  he  was  supposed  to  receive 
the  other  gods  at  his  hospitable  table.  The  principal  festival, 
however,  was  that  at  which  the  Pythian  Games  were  held. 
The  games  had  been  instituted  to  commemorate  the  victory 
of  Apollo  over  the  dragon  Python,  which  resisted  his  en¬ 
trance  upon  his  duties  as  oracular  god  at  Delphi.  They  were 
held  at  first  every  seventh,  afterwards  every  ninth,  and  latterly 
every  fifth  year. 

As  being  himself  possessed  of  eternal  youth,  and  of  the 
finest  conceivable  athletic  form,  Apollo  came  to  be  regarded 
as  a  patron  of  the  athletic  contests  of  youth,  and  in  this  capa¬ 
city  ranked  with  Herakles  and  Hermes.  He  was  the  god 
also  to  whom  persons  polluted  either  with  disease  or  crime 
turned  for  purification,  and  on  this  account  his  high  power 
was  brought  home  frequently  and  seriously  to  a  great  part  of 
the  people.  He  was,  therefore,  properly  viewed  as  the  father 
of  Asklepios,  the  god  of  medicine. 

The  story  of  the  birth  of  Apollo  is  that  he,  with  his  twin 
sister  Artemis,  was  a  son  of  Zeus  and  Leto  (or  Latona)  ; 
that  Leto,  after  wandering  long  hither  and  thither,  pursued  by 
the  jealous  Hera,  at  last  found  shelter  in  the  island  of  Delos, 
in  the  Egean  sea,  and  there  was  delivered.  It  was  said  that 
hitherto  that  island  had  been  only  a  waste  rock  driven  about 


PHCEBOS-APOLLO  AND  HELIOS,  OR  SOL. 


io5 


in  the  sea,  but  that  it  became  fixed  in  its  present  position  on 
the  occasion  of  the  birth  of  Apollo  and  Artemis,  an  event 
which  was  celebrated  by  a  blaze  of  golden  light  shed  over  the 
island,  while  sacred  swans  flew  round  encircling  it  seven  times. 
This  was  in  May,  and  for  that  reason  his  festival  at  Delos,  the 
Delia,  was  held  in  that  month.  But  Leto  was  compelled, 
through  the  pursuit  of  Hera,  to  abandon  her  children.  They 
were  entrusted  to  Themis,  a  name  which  signifies  “justice/* 
and  indicates  here  the  indisputable  sense  of  right  present  with 
Apollo  from  his  birth.  By  her  he  was  fed  on  ambrosia  and 
nectar,  upon  which  he  grew  so  strong,  and  that,  too,  so 
quickly,  that  within  only  a  few  hours  after  his  birth  he  was  a 
youth  of  dazzling  appearance,  and  escaped  his  divine  nurse, 
proclaiming  that  his  destiny  was  to  be  a  bowman,  a  player  on 
the  lyre  and  to  give  truthful  oracles  to  mankind. 

To  accomplish  the  end  of  his  ambition  he  set  out  at  once 
on  a  pilgrimage  to  search  for  a  suitable  place  for  an  oracle, 
neither  too  public  nor  too  retired.  After  searching  through 
many  districts  of  Greece  he  arrived  at  the  quiet  rocky  valley 
of  Delphi,  or  Pytho,  which  he  recognized  as  the  desired  spot, 
on  account  of  its  peaceful  position  in  the  heart  of  Greece. 
Moreover  there  had  been  an  oracle  of  Themis  there  from  a 
remote  early  time,  and  she  was  willing  to  hand  over  her  duties 
to  the  young  god.  A  terrible  dragon,  however,  called  Python, 
stood  in  the  way,  refused  entrance,  and  tried  to  repel  him; 
but  in  vain,  for  the  young  god,  confident  in  the  unerring  aim 
of  his  arrows,  attacked  the  monster,  and  slew  it  after  a  short 
combat.  In  this  way  he  acquired  his  world-famed  oracle, 
and  from  his  victory  over  the  dragon  obtained  the  title  of 
Pythios. 

From  that  time  forward,  with  one  exception,  Apollo  re- 


io6 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


mained  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  sacred  tripod  and 
oracle  at  Delphi,  and  that  was  when  he  had  to  take  up  their 
defence  against  Herakles,  who,  because  the  acting  priestess 
did  not  prophesy  as  he  wished,  offered  her  violence  and  carried 
off  the  tripod.  Apollo  hastened  to  the  aid  of  his  priestess,  and 
Zeus  had  to  settle  the  quarrel  between  his  two  sons,  who  there¬ 
after  lived  in  the  closest  friendship. 

Amongst  the  other  incidents  of  his  life,  it  is  related  that 
Apollo  once  incurred  the  severe  displeasure  of  Zeus,  and  was 
driven  for  a  time  out  of  Olympos,  through  having  shot  at 
some  of  the  Kyklopes  in  revenge  for  Zeus  having  struck 
Asklepios  (ZEsculapius),  a  son  of  Apollo,  with  a  thunder¬ 
bolt.  During  his  exile  on  earth,  he  acted  as  a  herdsman  to 
his  friend  Admetos,  the  king  of  Pherae,  in  Thessaly,  and 
again  in  the  same  capacity  to  Laomedon,  prince  of  Troy.  In 
vexation  at  his  banishment  he  joined  with  Poseidon  in  an  at¬ 
tempt  to  dethrone  Zeus.  But  the  scheme  failed,  and  both 
deities  were  in  consequence  sentenced  to  assist  in  building 
the  walls  of  Troy.  Laomedon  refused  to  give  them  the  pay¬ 
ment  agreed  on  for  the  service,  and  Apollo  revenged  himself 
by  sending  a  dreadful  pestilence  which  depopulated  the  town 

and  neighbourhood  of  Troy.  During  the  time  of  his  servitude 

■« 

he  had  also  a  quarrel  with  Pan,  who  insisted  that  the  flute 
was  a  better  instrument  than  the  lyre.  The  decision,  which 
was  left  to  Midas,  a  king  of  Lydia,  was  given  in  favour  of 
Pan,  for  which  Apollo  punished  Midas  by  causing  his  ears  to 
grow  long  like  those  of  an  ass.  Marsyas,  too,  had  boasted 
that  he  could  surpass  Apollo  in  the  art  of  playing  on  the  flute, 
and  for  this  had  to  suffer  the  cruel  punishment  of  being  flayed 
alive. 

In  Rome  the  worship  of  Apollo  was  not  established  till  320 


FHCEBOS-APOLLO  AND  HELIOS,  OR  SOL. 


107 


B.  c.,  a  temple  being  raised  to  him  in  that  year  in  consequence 
of  a  pestilence  that  had  visited  the  city.  Afterwards  a  second 
temple  to  him  was  erected  on  the  Palatine  hill.  The  Apolli- 
narian  Games  were  instituted  during  the  second  Punic  war. 

No  distinction  was  made  by  the  Greek  poets  of  later  times 

between  Apollo  and  the  sun-god,  Helios.  As  little  did  the 

Romans  distinguish  between  Apollo  and  Sol.  In  both  cases 

the  confusion  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  fundamental  idea  of 

both  deities  was  that  of  sun-gods.  The  title  of  Phcebos  plainly 

# 

designated  Apollo  as  god  of  pure  streaming  light,  particularly 
of  the  light  of  heaven,  and  this  phase  of  his  character  was 
made  more  conspicuous  by  the  fact  of  his  mother’s  name  being 
Leto,  “  darkness,”  strictly  “  goddess  of  the  dark  night.  ”  But 
this,  his  original  signification,  came  in  time  to  be  lost  sight  of 
in  the  variety  of  other  functions  which  he  assumed.  Helios, 
or  Hyperion,  on  the  contrary,  remained,  properly  speaking, 
only  the  orb  of  the  sun  which  is  visible  in  the  heavens  by  day, 
and  disappears  by  night  in  a  regular  course.  That  was  the 
only  signification  he  had.  The  number  seven  was  sacred  to 
him,  as  it  was  to  Apollo,  and  in  the  island  of  Trinakia,  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  Sicily,  it  was  said,  he  had  seven  herds  of  cows 
and  seven  herds  of  lambs,  fifty  in  each  herd,  which  never  in¬ 
creased  or  diminished  in  numbers.  It  was  one  of  his  pleasures 
to  see  them  grazing  when  he  rose  in  the  morning  and  when  he 
descended  in  the  evening. 

Of  the  sons  of  Helios  the  most  famous  is  Phaethon,  of 
whom  it  is  said  that  he  once  had  a  dispute  about  his  origin 
with  Epaphos,  a  son  of  Zeus  and  Io,  and  in  consequence 
begged  Helios,  if  he  really  was  his  father,  to  prove  himself 
such  by  granting  one  request ;  upon  which  Helios  called  the 
river  Styx  to  witness  that  he  would  not  refuse  to  grant  it. 


io8 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


The  request  was,  that  he,  Phaethon,  should  be  permitted  for 
one  day  to  drive  the  chariot  of  the  sun.  Helios,  astonished 
at  the  boldness  of  the  request,  and  alarmed  at  the  danger  that 
threatened  his  son  in  such  an  undertaking,  endeavoured  to 
move  him  from  his  determination.  But  Phaethon  only  clung 
to  the  bargain  all  the  more  firmly,  and  Helios,  finding  him¬ 
self  bound  by  his  oath,  instructed  his  son  how  to  drive  and 
manage  the  horses,  and  handed  over  to  him  the  task  for  one 
day.  The  youth,  however,  through  being  unused  to  the  work, 
and  unacquainted  with  the  right  way,  soon  became  confused, 
and  lost  his  strength  and  his  senses.  The  spirited  horses 
wheeled  out  of  the  right  course,  and  brought  the  chariot  of 
the  sun  so  near  to  the  earth  that  in  some  places  the  latter  took 
'fire,  fountains  were  dried  up,  rivers  began  to  boil,  and  part 
of  the  human  race  became  black  in  colour.  Zeus,  alarmed  at 
the  unexpected  danger  in  which  both  heaven  and  earth  were 
thus  placed,  slew  Phaethon  with  a  stroke  of  lightning,  and  cast 
him  from  the  chariot  of  the  sun  down  into  the  river  Eridanos. 
The  three  sisters  of  Phaethon,  Heliades,  as  they  were  called 
• — that  is,  daughters  of  Helios,  Phaethusa,  ZEgle,  and 
Lampetia,  wept  for  him  a  long  time,  and  finally  became 
transformed  into  larch  trees,  that  overhang  the  river’s  banks, 
the  tears  that  continually  flowed  from  them  being  changed  by 
the  sun  into  amber  (< elektron. )  Phaethon’s  friend  Kyknos 
mourned  his  loss  deeply,  and  was  transformed  into  a  swan, 
while  Helios  was  so  grieved  at  his  son’s  death  that  only  the 
entreaties  of  the  gods  could  prevail  on  him  to  resume  the 
reins  of  the  chariot  of  the  sun. 

The  symbols  of  Helios  were  horses’  heads,  a  crown  of  seven 
rays,  a  cornucopia,  and  a  ripened  fruit.  The  symbols  of  Apollo 
were  the  wolf,  swan,  raven,  stag,  dolphin,  laurel,  and  lyre. 


♦ 


i 


XIV 


Artemis,  or  Diana. 


Dionysos,  or  Bacchus. 

\ 


ARTEMIS,  OR  DIANA;  AND  SELENE,  OR  LUNA. 


IO9 


In  works  of  art  Apollo  is  usually  represented  as  having  the  figure  of  a  youth¬ 
ful  athlete — perhaps  the  finest  existing  statue  of  him  being  the  Apollo  Belvi- 
dere  of  the  Vatican.  His  hair  is  long,  and  usually  tied,  like  that  of  his  sister 
Artemis,  in  a  large  knot  above  his  forehead.  In  the  character  of  Musagetes 
he  wears  long-  ample  drapery  girt  at  the  waist,  a  diadem  round  his  head,  and 
long  tresses  falling  on  his  shoulders.  Though  the  general  representation  of 
him  is  that  in  which  he  is  engaged  in  playing  on  the  lyre,  or  resting  from  doing 
so,  as  in  plate  xi.,  we  find  him  also  with  bow  and  arrows,  as  Sauroktonos,  kill¬ 
ing  a  lizard,  holding  forth  his  aegis  to  destroy  his  enemies,  and  present  at  the 
flaying  of  Marsyas. 


ARTEMIS,  or  DIANA;  AND  SELENE  or  LUNA. 

(PLATES  XIV.  AND  XV.) 

Originally  Artemis  was  the  divine  personification  of  the 
moon,  just  as  her  brother  Apollo  was  originally  god  of  the 
sun.  But  by  degrees,  as  the  moon  came  to  be  viewed  like  the 
sun,  on  the  one  hand  as  a  mere  illuminating  orb,  and  on  the 
other  as  possessing  a  real  or  apparent  and  generally  believed 
influence  upon  vegetation,  and  on  human  as  well  as  animal 
life,  there  grew  up  a  distinction  between  moon-goddesses  of 
two  kinds,  corresponding  to  the  sun-gods  of  two  kinds.  The 
one  was  Selene,  or  Luna,  whose  signification  was  merely 
that  of  goddess  of  the  orb  of  night,  as  Helios,  the  sun,  was 
of  the  orb  of  day.  The  other  was  Artemis,  or  Diana,  who 
embraced  in  her  character  all  the  other  functions  exercised  by 
the  moon  on  earthly  life,  and  accordingly,  like  Apollo,  became 
the  subject  of  a  largely  developed  religious  belief;  while  the 
myth  of  Selene,  on  the  contrary,  like  that  of  Helios,  was  but 
little  and  sparingly  improved  upon. 

Great  as  was  the  variety,  of  the  real  and  fancied  influences 
of  the  moon  upon  natural  life,  proportionately  great  was  the 
variety  in  the  myth  of  Artemis — a  locality  of  worship  some- 


no 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


times,  at  other  times  a  particular  point  of  view  of  her  charac¬ 
ter  determining  the  phase  of  it.  And  further,  it  should  be 
observed  that  many  peculiar  features  in  the  myths  of  Artemis 
are  traceable  to  the  fact  of  her  being  twin-sister  of  Apollo, 
whose  inner  and  spiritual  qualities  she  was  believed  to  share. 

It  was  observed  that  the  vegetation  of  warm  southern  lands 
spread  and  flourished  most  under  the  quickening  influence  of 
the  coolness  of  night  and  the  fall  of  dew,  which  often  for 
whole  months  was  a  substitute  for  the  missing  rains.  It  was 
known  by  experience  that  the  fall  of  dew  is  most  copious  when 
the  sky  is  clear  and  the  moon  sheds  her  pure  light — and  hence 
to  Artemis  was  ascribed  the  cause  of  fertility  in  this  direc¬ 
tion.  Hence  she  was  believed  to  roam  by  night  through  woods 
and  groves,  over  hills  and  valleys,  accompanied  by  the  nymphs 
of  the  fountains;  beside  rivers,  fountains,  and  marshes  her 
presence  was  felt.  But  the  presence  of  the  moon  in  the  hea¬ 
vens  gave  security  to  travellers  and  to  herds,  especially  from 
the  attacks  of  wild  animals,  whose  enemy  Artemis  was  there¬ 
fore  thought  to  be.  Under  the  title  of  Agrotora  she  was  the 
patron  goddess  of  huntsmen,  her  favourite  hunting-ground  be¬ 
ing  Arcadia,  with  its  many  heights  and  glens  well-wooded  and 
well-watered.  Here  she  was  worshipped  under  the  form  of  a 
bear,  and  called  Kalliste,  the  Arcadians,  or  bear-people, 
boasting  their  descent  from  her.  On.  the  other  hand,  the  re¬ 
gularly  recurring  absence  of  the  moon  from  the  heavens,  which 
could  only  have  been  regarded  as  due  to  a  voluntary  act  on 
the  part  of  the  goddess,  showed  that  though  opposed  to  wild 
animals,  she  could  also  employ  them  for  the  purpose  of  punish¬ 
ing  men,  and  to  illustrate  this,  the  story  was  told  of  her  having 
sent  among  the  H^tolians  the  so-called  Kalydonian  boar,  which 
laid  waste  their  fields,  till  after  a  great  hunt  it  was  slain  by 


ARTEMIS,  OR  DIANA;  AND  SELENE,  OR  LUNA. 


Ill 


Meleager  and  Atalanta.  As  a  huntress  her  favourite  animal 
was  the  stag,  because  its  swiftness  gave  the  best  opportunity 
for  her  method  of  capture,  which  was  by  bow  and  speed  of 
foot.  As  an  instance  of  how  severely  she  would  punish  the 
wanton  slaying  of  the  stag,  there  is  the  story  of  how  for  such 
a  crime  on  the  part  of  Agamemnon  she  detained  the  Greek 
fleet,  on  its  way  to  Troy,  in  the  harbour  of  Aulis,  and  exacted 
from  him  the  sacrifice  of  his  daughter,  Iphigeneia.  Aktaeon, 
the  huntsman,  had  seen  the  goddess  bathing,  and  for  this  of¬ 
fence  to  her  modesty  was  transformed  into  a  stag,  and  devoured 
by  his  own  hounds — a  story  which  appears  to  illustrate  the 
destructive  influence  of  the  dog-star,  Sirius.  Another  hunter 
whom  she  slew  with  her  sweet  arrows  was  Orion,  a  personi¬ 
fication  of  the  bright  constellation,  which  at  the  beginning  of 
summer  is  seen  in  early  morning  in  the  east,  where  it  remains 
until  extinguished  by  the  morning  light.  To  express  this  in 
the  form  of  a  myth,  Orion  was  said  to  have  been  too  pressing 
in  his  advances  towards  Eos,  the  morning,  and  for  this  the 
goddess  of  the  moon  slew  him. 

From  the  coincidence  observed  between  the  courses  of  the 
moon  and  the  ebb  and  flow  of  tides,  Artemis  came  to  be  viewed 
as  a  goddess  who  protected  the  occupation  of  the  fishermen, 
not  only  on  the  shore  and  on  arms  of  the  sea,  but  also  on 
lakes  and  rivers.  In  this  character  she  bore  the  name  of 
Diktynna,  or  Britomartis,  and  was  worshipped  with  zeal 
among  other  places  in  the  island  of  Crete,  where,  to  account  for 
the  former  of  her  two  names,  the  story  was  told  of  her  having, 
to  escape  the  pursuit  of  Minos,  thrown  herself  from  a  rock 
into  the  sea,  upon  which  she  was  caught  in  a  fisherman’s  net. 

From  the  joyous  feelings  awakened  by  calm  moonlight, 
and  perhaps  partly  from  her  relationship  to  Apollo,  she  was 


1 1  2 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


described  as  fond  of  music  and  the  dance — a  view  of  her 
character  which  appears  to  have  presented  itself  in  a  strong 
light  to  the  people  of  Arcadia. 

By  whatever  process  the  belief  was  arrived  at,  whether  from 
some  comparison  which  suggested  itself  between  the  life  of 
man  and  the  waxing  and  waning  of  the  moon,  or  whether 
because  mankind  at  birth  seemed  to  come  out  of  night  into 
the  light  of  day,  we  find  Artemis  represented  as  the  guardian 
and  helper  of  child-birth,  with  the  title  of  Eileithyia, 
Ilithyia  ,*  or  Eleutho.  She  was  throughout  looked  upon  as 
a  goddess  of  the  female  productive  power  in  nature,  and 
accordingly  the  care  and  nursing  of  children  through  their 
illness  were  placed  under  her  supervision.  A  festival,  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  dancing  of  young  girls,  was  held  in  her  honour 
as  the  goddess  of  youth,  in  Messenia,  Lakonia,  Elis,  and  else¬ 
where  in  Greece.  Similarly,  from  the  notion  that  mankind 
after  death  seems  to  sink  into  night  again,  she  came  to  be 
viewed  as  goddess  of  death,  particularly  of  that  manner  of 
death  which  could  not  be  assigned  to  a  known  cause — it  being 
said  of  those  who  were  stricken  suddenly,  without  an  ostensi¬ 
ble  cause,  such  as  an  injury  or  wound,  that  Apollo  or  Artemis 
had  laid  them  low  with  a  kindly  arrow :  and  in  these  cases 
the  death  of  men  was  ascribed  to  Apollo,  and  of  women  to 
Artemis,  as  a  rule. 

From  the  fact  that  the  moon,  with  its  pure  serene  light, 
naturally  suggested,  as  it  does  to  us  also,  the  idea  of  a  modest 
pure  virgin,  Artemis,  as  her  name  implies,  the  “modest,  spot¬ 
less  goddess,”  came  to  be  looked  on  as  a  virgin,  and  as  having 
under  her  special  care  all  shy  and  modest  youths,  whether  boys 

*  Both  names  are  also  assigned  to  Hera,  while  Eileithyia  herself  is  de¬ 
scribed  as  a  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Hera. 


ARTEMIS,  OR  DIANA;  AND  SELENE,  OR  LUNA. 


113 


or  girls,  from  whom  she  received  presents  of  wreaths  of  flowers 
in  the  spring-time.  When  girls  had  reached  an  age  at  which 
her  care  was  no  longer  necessary,  it  was  customary  for  them 
to  dedicate  their  girdles  to  the  goddess.  Young  girls  were 
sometimes  called  “  bears,”  in  allusion  to  their  patron  goddess, 
and  her  symbol  of  a  bear.  She  was  worshipped  in  Athens, 
Corinth,  and  Thebes  as  goddess  of  strict  upbringing,  of  good 
fame,  of  upright  mind,  and  of  sensibility  in  the  affairs  of  or¬ 
dinary  life.  She  chased  and  fired  her  arrows  at  all  wild  and 
unchecked  creatures  and  actions. 

When  only  a  maiden  of  tender  age  she  resolved,  and  ob¬ 
tained  Zeus’  consent,  to  remain  always  in  a  single  state,  and, 
like  Athene,  continued  constant  and  true  to  her  resolve, 
punishing  with  great  severity  every  offence  against  this  prin¬ 
ciple  on  the  part  of  the  nymphs  who  accompanied  her,  as  we 
see  in  the  examples  of  Daphne,  whom  she  transformed  into 
a  laurel  tree,  and  Kallisto  into  a  bear. 

.  It  may  have  been  from  the  same  motive  which  assigned  the 
bear  as  a  symbol,  that  in  early  times  her  worship  was  attended 
with  human  sacrifice.  Of  this  kind  was  the  worship  of  the 
Tauric  Artemis,  at  first  peculiar  to  the  countries  on  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  the  Crimea  being  the  principal  centre 
of  it.  From  the  Crimea,  it  is  said,  Orestes  brought  an  image 
of  the  goddess,  and  transplanted  her  worship  to  Greece,  where 
it  took  root,  among  other  places,  at  Sparta.  There  she  was 
styled  Orthia  or  Orthosia.  The  sacrifices  of  human  beings 
were  however,  in  later  times,  commuted  for  the  well-known 
ceremony  of  flogging  youths  at  her  altar,  said  to  have  been 
introduced  by  the  Spartan  legislator  Lykurgos. 

As  goddess  of  marshes  she  was  styled  Limnaia,  and  as  a 

river  goddess  Potamia.  In  this  latter  capacity  she  took  under 
8 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


114 


her  protection  the  nymphs  of  fountains,  as,  for  example,  Are- 
thusa,  whose  beauty  had  attracted  the  river-god  Alpheios, 
and  made  her  the  object  of  his  constant  pursuit,  till  Artemis 
to  elude  him,  caused  the  water  of  the  spring  which  she  repre¬ 
sented  to  flow  under-ground.  As  Munychia,  or  moon-god¬ 
dess,  she  was  worshipped  at  the  harbour  of  Athens,  and  en¬ 
joyed  an  annual  festival,  at  which  cakes  of  the  shape  of  a  full 
moon,  with  lights  stuck  in  them,  were  presented  to  her.  As 
Brauronia,  with  the  symbol  of  a  bear,  she  had  a  sanctuary 
on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens.  In  Euboea  she  was  styled  Am- 
arynthia,  and  was  worshipped  with  great  ceremony. 

Selene,  or  Luna,  it  has  already  been  said,  stood  as  god¬ 
dess  of  the  moon,  in  the  same  relation  to  Artemis  as  did 
Helios  to  Phoebos-Apollo,  inasmuch  as  she  merely  represented 
the  orb  of  the  moon,  while  Artemis  represented  the  influence 
exercised  on  nature  by  night,  the  symbol  of  which  was  the 
moon,  as  the  sun  was  symbol  of  day.  Accordingly,  as  com¬ 
pared  with  Helios,  the  rising  star  of  day,  Selene  represents 
evening  and  night,  carrying  a  torch,  and  clad  in  long  heavy 
robes,  with  a  veil  covering  the  back  of  her  head.  On  her 
brow  she  wears  a  half-moon  (less  frequently  horns),  and  leans 
forward,  as  if  moving  with  speed,  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  two 
horses ;  or  she  rides  on  a  mule.  The  story  of  her  love  for 
the  beautiful  young  Endymion,  whom  she  found  asleep  on  a 
hill-side,  and,  enamoured  of  his  loveliness,  descended  to  him, 
is  the  best  known  of  the  myths  concerning  her,  and  may  be 
taken  as  a  symbolical  representation  of  the  gentle  influence  of 
the  goddess  of  night,  who  watches  the  slumbers  of  unconscious 
creatures.  Among  the  Romans  Luna  had  a  handsome  tem¬ 
ple,  founded  by  King  Servius  Tullius,  on  the  Aventine  hill, 
another  on  the  Capitol,  and  a  third  on  the  Palatine. 


XV. 


Diana  of 


Ephesus. 


ARTEMIS,  OR  DIANA )  AND  SELENE,  OR  LUNA. 


115 


Compared  with  the  Artemis  whom  we  have  up  to  now  been 
describing,  the  so-called  Ephesian  Artemis,  or  Diana  of 
Ephesus,  presents  (Plate  XV.)  so  very  different  and  strange 
an  aspect,  that  at  first  sight  we  are  completely  at  a  loss  to  un¬ 
derstand  how  by  any  possibility  the  term  of  a  virgin  could 
be  applied  to  her.  Her  appearance  altogether  wants  the  sim¬ 
plicity,  humanity,  and  truth  to  nature  which  characterized 
the  Greek  deities,  and,  what  is  more,  bears  the  most  obvious 
signs  of  maternity.  It  would  seem  that  the  Greeks,  who  set¬ 
tled  as  colonists  in  very  early  times  on  the  coast  of' Asia 
Minor,  found  this  goddess  being  worshipped  by  the  native 
population  of  that  land,  and  adopted  her  in  the  place  of  Arte¬ 
mis,  who,  leaving  out  the  fact  of  her  being  a  virgin,  was  pro¬ 
bably  identical  with  the  Asiatic  goddess  in  respect  of  her 
divine  power  over  fertility,  childbirth,  the  moon,  and  hunting. 

The  worship  of  Diana  of  Ephesus  extended  throughout 
the  part  of  Asia  Minor  colonized  by  Greeks,  and  thence  spread 
to  other  places — never,  however,  obtaining  a  firm  footing  in 
Greece  Proper.  At  Ephesus  she  had  a  temple,  which,  for  the 
grandeur  of  its  architecture,  its  size,  splendour,  and  wealth, 
was  reckoned  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  ancient  world. 
On  the  night  on  which  Alexander  the  Great  was  born  it  was 
set  fire  to  and  almost  completely  destroyed  by  a  man  named 
Herostratos,  whose  object,  being  simply  to  hand  down  his 
name  in  history,  was  gained.  Afterwards,  when  Alexander 
had  acquired  renown  by  his  extraordinary  conquests  in  Asia, 
this  coincidence  was  remarked,  and  accepted  as  having  been 
an  omen  of  his  future  fame.  Whether  he  himself  believed  so 
or  not,  he  gladly  assisted  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple,  so 
that  when  finished  it  was  more  magnificent  than  before.  Diana 
was  still  being  worshipped  zealously  when  the  Apostle  Paul 


n6 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


went  to  Ephesus  to  preach  Christianity,  and  accordingly  he 
was  received  with  hostility,  especially  by  the  silversmiths  and 
goldsmiths,  whose  trade  consisted  largely  in  the  production  of 
small  shrines,  or  representations  of  the  front  of  the  temple  of 
Diana,  to  be  sold  among  her  worshippers  and  devotees.  Feel¬ 
ing  that  the  success  of  Paul’s  preaching  would  ruin  their  trade, 
they  raised  so  great  an  opposition  to  him  and  his  followers  that 
they  were  obliged  to  leave  the  town.  Nevertheless  the  new 
religion  found  converts,  who  from  that  time  forward  formed  a 
Christian  community  there.  This  Artemis  was  also  worshipped 
under  the  title  of  Leukophryne  in  Asia  Minor,  and  as  such 
had  a  splendid  temple  at  Magnesia  on  the  Maeander. 

Among  the  Romans  the  worship  of  Diana  appears  to  have 
been  of  native  growth,  and  not,  as  was  the  case  with  that  of 
many  of  the  other  deities,  imported  from  Greece.  A  temple 
had  been  erected  to  her  in  Rome  on  the  Aventine  hill  as  early 
as  the  time  of  King  Servius  Tullius.  Her  sacrifices  consisted 
of  oxen  and  deer ;  and  these,  as  well  as  the  fruit  presented  to 
her,  had  to  be  perfectly  clean  and  faultless,  as  became  offer¬ 
ings  to  a  virgin  goddess.  Stags,  dogs,  and  the  first-fruits  of 
the  fields  were  sacred  to  her. 


In  works  of  art  Artemis  was  usually  represented  as  a  huntress,  either  in  the 
act  of  running  with  speed  in  pursuit  of  her  game,  or  resting,  and  presenting 
the  picture  of  a  young  virgin,  fleet  of  foot,  her  dress  girt  high,  and  unencum¬ 
bered  except  by  bow  and  arrows.  In  type  of  face  she  resembles  her  brother 
Apollo  so  closely  that,  from  the  face  alone,  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  distin¬ 
guish  them.  Her  hair,  like  his,  is  gathered  into  a  large  knot  above  the  fore¬ 
head.  The  most  celebrated  of  the  statues  of  her  that  have  come  down  to  us  is 
the  so-called  Diana  of  Versailles.  In  early  works  of  art,  and  in  some  of  the 
later — as,  for  example,  a  marble  statue  in  the  British  Museum — her  drapery 
reaches  to  her  feet,  but  in  these  cases  also  she  is  represented  as  in  active  move¬ 
ment,  like  the  moon  hastening  through  the  clouds.  Of  the  incidents  in  which 
she  figured  we  find  that  of  Aktaeon  being  transformed  into  a  stag  and  devoured 


DIONYSOS,  OR  BACCHUS. 


117 


by  his  hounds,  in  a  sculptured  group,  on  a  painted  vase,  and  on  the  frag¬ 
ment  of  a  cameo  in  the  British  Museum.  The  hunt  of  the  Kalydonian  boar 
occurs  on  painted  vases. 

The  Ephesian  Artemis  was  represented  (plate  xv.)  with  a  mural  crown  on 
her  head.  Behind  the  crown  is  a  disc,  as  symbol  of  the  full  moon ;  on  her 
breast,  like  a  necklace,  a  garland  of  flowers,  as  a  sign  of  her  influence  in  spring 
time,  while  above  it  are  figures  of  maidens,  to  indicate  her  patronage  of  young 
girls ;  lions  cling  to  her  arms ;  as  mother  of  wild  beasts,  she  has  many  breasts ; 
her  legs  are  closely  bandaged  and  ornamented  with  figures  of  bulls,  stags,  lions 
and  gryphons ;  at  the  sides  are  flowers  and  bees.  How  far  this  figure  may 
have  resembled  the  original  image  of  the  goddess  which  had  fallen  from  heaven, 
it  is  impossible  to  say. 

Selene  or  Luna  is  represented  as  riding  on  a  mule  or  a  horse ;  on  the  pedi¬ 
ment  of  the  Parthenon  it  is  a  horse.  On  a  painted  vase  in  the  British  Museum 
there  occurs  a  representation  of  sunrise ;  Helios  is  seen  rising  in  his  chariot, 
the  stars',  in  the  form  of  youths,  dive  headlong  into  the  sea,  and  the  moon  (Se¬ 
lene)  rides  away  over  the  hill-tops  on  a  horse,  and  as  she  departs  is  bayed  at 
by  a  dog. 


DIONYSOS,  or  BACCHUS, 

(PLATE  XIV.,) 

Having  more  titles  than  any  of  the  other  deities,  was  styled,  to 
increase  their  number,  “  God  of  the  many  names,”  of  these  the 
most  familiar  being,  Bromios,  Lyaeos,  Dithyrambos, 
and  Bakchos.  The  belief  in  the  existence  and  powers  of 
this  god  appears  to  have  been  borrowed  by  the  Greeks  in  its 
primitive  form  from  oriental  mythology,  to  have  been  deve¬ 
loped  by  them,  and  in  later  times  communicated  to  the 
Romans.  His  original  signification  was  that  of  a  divine  being 
whose  power  might  be  noticed  operating  in  the  sap  of  vegeta¬ 
tion  ;  and,  accordingly,  spring  was  a  season  of  gladness  and  joy 
for  him,  and  winter  a  season  of  sorrow.  From  this  sprung  his 
double  character  of  god  of  the  vintage  and  its  gay  accompani¬ 
ments,  and  god  of  the  ecstatic  and  mystic  ceremonies  in  which 


n8 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


his  sufferings  during  winter  were  deplored.  As  time  went  on 
he  came  to  be  viewed  chiefly  as  the  source  of  the  happiness  and 
mirth  which  arise  from  the  enjoyment  of  the  noble  fruit  of  the 
vine;  while  afterwards,  from  the  fact  that  his  festivals  in  spring 
and  summer,  with  their  gaiety  and  mirth,  gave  occasion  to 
the  first  attempts  at  dramatic  performances,  he  added  the 
function  of  god  of  the  theatre  to  that  of  god  of  the  vine. 

He  was  born,  it  was  commonly  believed,  at  Thebes,  and 
was  a  son  of  Zeus  and  Semele,  a  daughter  of  Kadmos, 
the  founder  of  that  town,  a  son  of  Agenor,  and  grandson 
of  Poseidon.  Of  his  birth  poets  relate  how  Hera,  indig¬ 
nant  at  this  rival  in  her  husband’s  affections,  determined  to 
get  rid  of  her;  and  to  this  end,  assuming  a  disguise,  went  to 
Thebes,  and  presented  herself  to  Semele;  how  she  succeeded 
in  winning  her  confidence,  and  thereupon  took  occasion  to 
propose  that  she  should  ask  Zeus  to  visit  her  for  once  in  all 
the  plenitude  of  his  majesty  as  a  god  of  thunder,  how  Zeus, 
who,  without  waiting  to  listen,  had  hastily  sworn  “by  the 
%  black  waters  of  the  Styx,”  to  grant  whatever  she  should  ask, 
was  vexed  when  he  heard  the  foolish  request,  from  granting 
which  no  power  could  absolve  him ;  how  one  day  he  appeared 
before  the  luckless  Semele  with  a  display  of  thunder  and 
lightning  which  caused  her  death.  So  far  the  desire  of  ven¬ 
geance  on  the  part  of  Hera  was  satisfied.  But  Semele,  at  the 
moment  of  her  death,  gave  birth  to  a  male  child,  whose  life 
Zeus  fortunately  restored.  That  was  the  child  Bakchos. 
To  prevent  its  suffering  at  the  hands  of  Hera,  Hermes,  the 
messenger  of  the  gods,  was  secretly  despatched  with  the  infant 
to  a  place  called  Nysa,  where  were  certain  nymphs,  to  whom, 
along  with  Silenos,  the  charge  of  bringing  up  the  child  was 
entrusted.  His  title  of  Dithyrambos,  it  is  said,  means 


DIONYSOS,  OR  BACCHUS. 


II9 


“twice  born,”  and  refers  to  the  incident  of  his  life  being 
restored  by  Zeus.  In  after  times  it  was  applied  to  a  species 
of  song  in  honour  of  the  god  of  wine,  of  which  Arion  of 
Methymna  was  the  reputed  originator. 

The  childhood  of  Dionysos  was  spent  in  innocence  and 
happiness  among  the  nymphs,  satyrs,  sileni,  herdsmen,  and 
vine-tenders  of  Nysa.  But  when  he  arrived  at  manhood  he  set 
out  on  a  journey  through  all  known  countries,  even  into  the 
remotest  parts  of  India,  instructing  the  people,  as  he  pro¬ 
ceeded,  how  to  tend  the  vine,  and  how  to  practise  many  other 
arts  of  peace,  besides  teaching  them  the  value  of  just  and 
honourable  dealings.  He  was  praised  everywhere  as  the 
greatest  benefactor  of  mankind.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  said, 
apparently  with  reference  to  the  fierce  and  stubborn  mood 
which  in  some  cases  follows  copious  indulgence  in  wine,  that  * 
he  met  occasionally  with  great  resistance  on  his  journey,  but 
always  overcame  it  and  punished  those  who  opposed  him  most 
severely.  As  an  instance  of  this,  we  will  take  Lykurgos, 
the  king  of  Thrace,  whom,  for  his  resistance,  Dionysos  drove 
mad,  and  caused  to  fell  his  son,  mistaking  him  for  a  vine- 
plant,  and  afterwards  to  kill  himself  in  despair.  Or,  again, 
Pentheus,  a  king  of  Thebes,  whom  he  caused  to  be  torn  to 
pieces  by  his  own  mother  and  her  following  of  women,  because 
he  had  dared  to  look  on  at  their  orgiastic  rites. 

Nowhere  was  the  knowledge  of  how  to  utilize  the  vine  ap¬ 
preciated  more  than  in  Attica,  where  the  god  had  communi¬ 
cated  it  to  Ikaros,  whose  first  attempt  to  extend  the  benefit 
of  it  to  others  brought  about  his  own  death,  an  event  which 
was  deeply  grieved  for  afterwards.  In  December  a  festival, 
with  all  manner  of  rustic  enjoyments,  was  held  in  honour  of 
Dionysos  in  the  country  round  Athens.  In  January,  a  festival 


120 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


called  Lenaea  was  held  in  his  honour  in  the  town,  at  which 
one  of  the  principal  features  was  a  nocturnal  and  orgiastic 
procession  of  women.  Then  followed  in  February  the  An- 
thesteria,  the  first  day  of  which  was  called  ‘  cask-opening 
day/  and  the  second  1  pouring  day.’  Lastly  came  the  great 
festival  of  the  year,  the  Great  Dionysia,  which  was  held  in 
the  town  of  Athens,  and  lasted  from  the  ninth  to  the  fifteenth 
of  March,  the  religious  part  of  the  ceremony  consisting  of  a 
procession  in  which  an  ancient  wooden  image  of  the  god  was 
carried  through  the  streets  from  one  sanctuary  to  another,  ac¬ 
companied  by  excited  songs.  The  theatre  of  Dionysos  was 
daily  the  scene  of  splendid  dramatic  performances,  and  the 
whole  town  was  astir  and  gay. 

His  worship  extended  to  Lemnos,  Thasos,  and  Naxos,  where 
the  story  was  told  of  his  turning  the- Tyrrhenian  pirates  into 
dolphins,  and  where  he  found  the  beautiful  Ariadne,  when 
she  had  been  abandoned  by  Theseus.  It  spread  to  Crete,  the 
home  of  Ariadne,  and  into  Asia  Minor.  In  Phrygia  he  was 
worshipped  with  wild  ceremonies,  called  Sabazia,  and  in 
Thrace  and  Macedonia,  called  Kottytia.  As  the  god  who 
had  advanced  through  Asia  Minor  and  on  to  India,  accom¬ 
panied  by  his  wild  and  clamorous  following,  he  was  styled  the 
Indian  Dionysos,  and  in  this  character  was  represented  as  ad¬ 
vanced  in  years. 

The  sufferings  which  the  god  was  supposed  to  endure  in 
winter  led  him  to  be  associated  with  Demeter  in  the  mys¬ 
teries  of  Eleusis,  the  purpose  of  which  was,  as  has  been  said, 
to  celebrate  the  grief  of  the  goddess  in  winter,  and  her  pros¬ 
pects  of  joy  in  the  coming  spring. 

The  vine,  ivy,  and  pomegranate  were  sacred  to  this  god  ; 
his  sacrifices  consisted  of  goats  and  pigs. 


XVI 


I  2 1 


HERMES,  OR  MERCURY. 


In  works  of  art  Dionysos  was  represented  under  a  variety  of  forms ;  of  these, 
however,  two  are  to  be  specially  noticed.  The  one  called  the  “  Indian  Bak- 
chos”  represents  him  as  a  man  of  years,  with  worthy  aspect,  a  long  beard,  a 
diadem  on  his  brow,  and  long  drapery  sweeping  to  his  feet.  In  the  other  fig¬ 
ure  he  is  represented  as  a  beautiful  youth  with  an  almost  feminine  appearance 
(plate  xiv.),  beardless,  his  hair  falling  in  long  tresses,  and  adorned  with  a  wreath 
of  ivy  or  vine  tendrils,  sometimes  wearing  the  skin  of  a  stag  over  his  shoulders, 
or  with  small  horns  on  his  brow,  and  often  in  a  car  drawn  by  panthers  or  lions, 
or  riding  on  one  of  these  beasts. 

At  other  times  he  appears  as  a  child,  and  that  sometimes  when  he  is  being 
handed  over  by  Hermes  to  the  care  of  Silenos  and  the  nymphs  of  Nysa.  The 
youthful  Dionysos  is  frequently  represented  in  the  company  of  Ariadne,  while 
the  elder  Dionysos  is  usually  accompanied  by  Sileni  and  Satyrs,  as  when  he 
visited  Ikaros  and  taught  him  the  use  of  the  vine,  a  scene  which  occurs  on  sev¬ 
eral  ancient  reliefs,  of  which  two  are  in  the  British  Museum.  On  his  journey 
to  India  he  rides  on  a  camel,  and  on  other  occasions  he  is  attended  by  pan¬ 
thers.  His  staff  is  a  thyrsus — a  rod  with  a  pine  cone  at  the  top.  In  his  hand  is 
often  a  drinking  cup.  The  movement  and  excitement  of  the  persons  who  were 
associated  with  Dionysos  was  a  great  attraction  to  Praxiteles  and  the  sculptors 
of  his  time,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  many  sculptures  of  Dionysiac  subjects 
which  we  now  possess  come  from  that  school  either  as  originals  or  direct  imi¬ 
tations. 


HERMES,  or  MERCURY, 

(PLATES  X.  AND  XVII.,) 

A  son  of  Zeus  and  Maia,  a  daughter  of  Atlas,  was  regarded 
in  the  first  instance  as  the  special  deity  to  whom  was  due  the 
prolificness  and  welfare  of  the  animal  kingdom.  In  conse¬ 
quence,  however,  of  the  fact  that  in  early  times  the  chief 
source  of  wealth  consisted  in  herds  of  cattle,  the  prolificness 
of  which  was  traced  to  him,  it  came  to  pass  in  time  that  he  was 
considered  generally  to  be  the  first  cause  of  all  wealth,  come 
whence  it  might.  But  as  civilization  advanced,  and  it  became 
known  by  experience  that  there  was  no  means  of  acquiring 
wealth  so  rapidly  as  by  trade  his  province  was  extended  to 


122 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


trade,  and  the  protection  of  traders.  Again,  since  the  main 
condition  of  prosperity  in  trade  was  peace  and  undisturbed 
commerce  by  land  and  sea,  he  came  to  be  viewed  as  guardian 
of  commerce.  And,  further,  assuming  that  all  who  took  part 
in  trade  were  qualified  to  look  after  their  own  interests,  shrewd 
and  prudent,  the  function  of  protecting  prudence,  shrewdness, 
and  even  cunning,  was  assigned  to  him.  In  certain  aspects 
of  trade,  if  not  in  the  best,  it  was  reckoned  a  great  point  to 
talk  over  and  cajole  purchasers,  and  from  his  protection  of 
this  method  of  doing  business,  Hermes  came  to  be  god  of 
1  ‘persuasive  speech”  or  oratory.  Finally,  it  being  only  a 
short  step  from  this  to  cunning  and  roguery,  we  must  not  be 
surprised  to  find  him  described  as  protector  of  thieves  and 
rascals,  though  no  doubt  this  task  was  assigned  him  more  in 
joke  than  in  earnest. 

His  office  of  messenger  and  herald  of  the  gods,  in  particular 
of  Zeus,  appears  to  have  originated  partly  in  the  duty  assigned 
to  him  of  protecting  commerce,  the  success  of  which  depends 
largely  on  the  messengers  and  envoys  employed  in  it,  and 
partly  in  other  functions  of  his  which  would  lead  us  too  far  to 
explain.  As  messenger  and  envoy  of  Zeus,  Hermes  conducts 
the  intercourse  between  heaven  and  earth,  announcing  the 
will  of  the  gods  to  men,  and  from  this  office  was  further  de¬ 
rived  his  character  of  a  god  of  oracles.  In  the  capacity  of 
messenger  or  herald  he  had  access  even  to  the  under-world, 
whither,  under  the  title  of  Psychopompos,  he  guided  the 
souls  of  the  departed,  crossing  in  Charon’s  bark,  and  placing 
them  before  the  throne  of  the  deities  below.  (Plate  VI.)  From 
the  shadowy  world  of  spirits  to  that  of  sleep  and  dreams  is  a 
short  step  for  the  imagination,  and  accordingly  we  find  Her¬ 
mes  described  as  Oneiropompos,  guide  of  dreams.  As  the 


HERMES,  OR  MERCURY. 


I23 


swift  messenger  of  the  gods  he  readily  came  to  be  looked  on 
as  a  model  for  the  youth  practising  in  the  palaestra,  in  which 
capacity  he  had  the  title  of  Enagonios. 

In  proportion  to  the  variety  of  the  tasks  which  he  had  to 
perform  was  the  variety  of  mythical  stories  about  his  actions 
and  life,  some  of  them,  taking  us  back  to  the  very  day  of  his 
birth.  For  it  was  not  an  uncommon  practice  in  the  early, 
myth-making  age  to  ascribe  to  the  infancy  of  a  god  some  in¬ 
stance  of  the  peculiar  qualities  by  which  he  was  afterwards 
distinguished.  So  it  happened  with  Hermes. 

His  birth  having  taken  place  on  the  fourth  of  the  month, 
that  day  became  sacred  to  him.  Born,  as  it  was  believed, 
during  the  darkness  of  night,  in  an  unfrequented,  lonesome 
cave  on  Mount  Kyllene,  in  Arcadia,  and  on  this  account  styled 
Kyllenios,  he  was  only  a  day  old  when  a  remarkable  exam¬ 
ple  of  his  cunning  and  knavery  occurred.  Slipping  out  of  the 
couch  in  the  cave  where  he  was  left  asleep  as  was  supposed, 
the  night  being  dark  and  cloudy,  he  found  a  herd  of  cattle 
belonging  to  his  brother  Apollo  (as  sun-god),  and  stole  a 
number  of  them.  When  the  morning  came  Apollo  searched 
in  vain  for  the  missing  cattle;  for  the  infant  god  had  cleverly 
succeeded  in  obliterating  all  traces  of  them  by  fastening 
bunches  of  broom  to  their  hoofs,  and  in  this  condition  driving 
them  backwards  into  a  cave  at  Pylos,  so  as  to  produce  the  im¬ 
pression  that  they  had  left  instead  of  entered  the  cave.  After 
this  adventure  he  slunk  back  to  his  couch,  and  feigned  to  be 
asleep.  He  had,  however,  been  observed  by  a  rustic  named 
Battos,  who  informed  against  him,  whereupon  Apollo,  angry 
at  such  a  daring  piece  of  robbery,  dragged  him  out  of  his 
couch,  and  took  him  off  to  the  throne  of  Zeus  to  be  punished 
and  made  an  example  of.  But  Hermes  was  irrepressible, 


124 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


took  up  a  lyre  which  he  had  made  the  day  before  out  of  the 
shell  of  a  tortoise,  and  proceeded  to  play  on  it,  to  the  amuse¬ 
ment  and  delight  of  both  Zeus  and  Apollo,  and  further  in- 
gratiated  himself  with  his  brother  by  giving  him  the  lyre,  in¬ 
venting  for  his  own  use  a  shepherd’s  pipe.  The  cattle  of  the 
sun-god  were  the  clouds,  and  Hermes  was  a  god  who  presided 
.over  the  fertility  of  nature.  The  signification  of  the  story  of 
his  stealing  some  of  these  cattle  on  a  dark  night  would  there¬ 
fore  seem  to  be  simply  that  of  clouds  discharging  fertilizing 
showers  by  night. 

The  two  brothers  having  thus  made  their  peace,  continued 
from  that  time  forward  on  the  best  of  terms,  Apollo  attesting 

his  good  disposition  towards  Hermes  by  giving  him  in  return 

% 

for  the  lyre  a  present  of  a  golden  divining-rod,  and  also  the 
power  of  prophecy.  This  condition,  however,  was  attached 
to  the  gift,  that  he  was  not  to  communicate  his  revelations  of 
the  future  by  words  as  did  Apollo,  but  by  signs  and  occur¬ 
rences.  That  is  to  say,  that  persons  revolving  some  under¬ 
taking  in  their  mind  were  to  be  guided  by  certain  unexpected 
sights,  accidents,  or  incidents,  and  were  to  recognize  in  them 
the  favour  or  displeasure  of  the  gods  with  reference  to  the 
enterprise  in  question, — a  method  of  proceeding  common 
enough  in  modern  superstition.  These  signs  and  incidents 
were  believed  to  be  sent  by  Hermes,  whose  counsel  in  other 
cases  of  doubt,  as  to  whether  to  do  or  not  do  a  thing,  was 
sought  for  by  recourse  to  dice,  the  belief  being  that  a  high 
throw  signified  his  approval,  and  a  low  throw  the  reverse. 

The  cunning  and  adroitness,  the  same  good  humour  and 
ready  answer  which  he  gave  proof  of  in  the  first  days  of  his 
infancy,  were  often  afterwards  and  with  like  success  displayed 
by  him — as,  for  example,  when  he  stole  the  sceptre  of  Zeus, 


s 


X. 


Heplisestos,  or  Vulcan. 


HERMES,  OR  MERCURY. 


I25 


Aphrodite’s  girdle,  Poseidon’s  trident,  the  sword  of 
Ares,  the  tongs  of  Hephsestos,  or  Apollo’s  bow  and  ar¬ 
rows,  in  each  case  managing  to  make  up  matters,  and  smooth 
away  the  indignation- of  his  victims.  But  the  most  celebrated 
instance  in  which  his  brilliant  talents  were  fully  displayed  was 
the  affair  of  Argos  with  the  hundred  eyes,  whom  Hera  had 
appointed  to  watch  over  Io,  one  of  the  favourites  of  Zeus, 
whom  the  latter,  that  she  might  escape  the  vengeance  of  the 
jealous  Hera,  had  transformed  into  a  cow,  a  trick  which  the 
goddess  had  perceived. 

Well,  Hermes  being  commanded  by  Zeus  to  release  Io  from 
the  surveillance  of  Argos,  and  in  doing  so  to  use  no  force, 
found  the  task  no  easy  matter,  seeing  that  the  watchman  had 
a  hundred  eyes,  of  which,  when  in  his  deepest  sleep,  only  fifty 
were  closed.  Hermes  succeeded,  however,  and  in  this  fashion. 
Presenting  himself  to  Argos,  he  commenced  to  amuse  him  by 
telling  all  kinds  of  tales,  and  having  by  these  means  fairly 
,  gained  the  watchman’s  confidence,  he  next  produced  a 
shepherd’s  pipe,  and  played  on  it  various  tunes  of  such  sweet¬ 
ness  that  they  gradually  lulled  Argos  into  so  deep  a  sleep  that 
one  by  one  all  his  hundred  eyes  closed.  The  moment  the  last 
eyelid  drooped  Hermes  slew  him,  and  at  once  released  Io,  and 
led  her  away.  For  this  service  he  rose  high  in  the  estimation 
of  Zeus,  and  from  that  time  the  name  of  “  Argos-slayer,  ” 
Argeiphontes,  was  the  proudest  title  which  he  bore.  As  a 
memorial  of  Argos,  Hera,  it  was  said,  set  his  eyes  in  the  tail 
of  her  favourite  bird,  the  peacock.  But  these  and  such-like 
instances  of  his  knavery  and  cunning  do  not  by  any  means 
express  the  whole  character  of  Hermes  ;  for  his  skill  was  also 
directed  frequently  to  purposes  of  useful  invention.  It  was  he, 
.for  example,  who  invented  Apollo’s  lyre,  as  well  as  that  one 


126 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


by  which  the  Theban  musician,  Amphion,  did  such  wonders; 
and  it  was  he  who  taught  Palamedes  to  express  words  in 

writing.  And,  besides,  wherever  danger  that  required  skill 

* 

and  dexterity  as  much  as  courage  preseated  itself,  he  was  al¬ 
ways  present  to  assist.  He  acted  as  guide  to  heroes  in  their 
dangerous  enterprises,  and  in  that  capacity  frequently,  as  in 
the  case  of  Herakles,  was  associated  with  Athene.  To  tra¬ 
vellers  who  had  lost  their  way  he  was  a  ready  guide,  and  to 
exiles  a  constant  and  willing  helper  in  strange  lands  and  among 
ill-disposed  people. 

In  the  primitive  form  of  his  worship  Hermes  was,  as  has 
been  said,  the  god  who  gives  prolificness  to  flocks  and  herds. 
In  this  character  we  find  him  in  what  appears  to  have  been  the 
oldest  centre  of  his  worship  in  Greece,  that  is  in  Samothrace 
and  the  neighbouring  islands  of  Imbros  and  Lemnos,  where 
he  bore  the  title  of  Kadmilos  or  Kasmilos.  His  usual  title 
among  herdsmen  was  either  Nomios  or  Epimelios. 

A  messenger  himself,  it  became  his  office  to  aid  human  mes¬ 
sengers  and  travellers,  and  to  this  end  it  was  he  who  inspired  the 
idea  of  erecting  sign-posts  at  cross-roads  with  directions  as  to 
whither  each  road  led.  These  sign-posts  took  the  form  of  sta¬ 
tues,  if  they  may  be  so  called,  consisting  of  a  pillar  running  nar¬ 
rower  towards  the  foot,  and  surmounted  by  a  head  of  Hermes, 
and  called  Hermae.  It  was  the  duty  of  travellers  on  passing 
one  of  them  to  place  a  stone  beside  it,  a  custom  which  not  only 
largely  helped  towards  clearing  the  fields  of  stones,  but  also  led 
to  improvement  in  the  roads  themselves,  and  hence  to  in¬ 
creased  facilities  for  commerce.  If  more  than  two  roads  crossed, 
a  corresponding  number  of  heads  were  placed  on  the  pillar, 
one  facing  each  way.  Similar  figures  were  also  found  outside 
houses  in  Athens  for  the  purpose  of  cheering  parting  travellers. 


THEMIS. 


127 


The  attributes  of  Hermes  were  the  caduceus  or  kerykeion , 
that  is,  a  short  staff  with  a  pair  of  wings  and  a  knotted  snake 
attached  to  it,  and  the  petasos  or  winged  cap.  Beside  him 
sometimes  is  a  cock  or  a  goat.  For  sacrifice  he  delighted  in 
the  tongues  of  animals,  a  suitable  sacrifice  to  the  god  of  oratory. 

The  Roman  Mercurius  appears  to  have  possessed  in 
common  with  Hermes  only  the  character  of  god  of  trade  and 
oratory.  Roman  traders  held  a  festival  to  him  on  the  25th  of 
May. 

In  the  earlier  works  of  art  Hermes  appears  bearded  and  about  middle  age, 
frequently  carrying  a  sheep  or  a  kid  over  his  shoulders.  His  form  is  athletic. 
In  more  recent  works  we  find  him  of  a  youthful  figure,  such  as  became  his 
office  as  messenger  of  the  gods.  He  wears  the  petasos,  and  sometimes  wings 
at  his  heels,  carries  the  caduceus,  and  sometimes,  as  god  of  trade,  a  purse. 
Among  the  incidents  of  his  life,  one  which  occurs  frequently  on  the  painted 
vases  is  that  in  which  he  appears  presenting  the  three  goddesses  to  Paris,  who 
had  to  decide  their  claims  as  to  which  of  them  was  the  most  beautiful.  Some¬ 
times  he  is  represented  in  sculptures  as  a  mere  boy.  Many  of  the  Hermae 
described  above  have  come  down  to  our  times. 


THEMIS, 

(PLATE  XVIII.,) 

A  daughter  of  Uranos  and  Gaea,  was  the  personification  of 
that  divine  law  of  right  which  ought  to  control  all  human 
affairs,  of  that  highest  and  noblest  sense  of  right  which  is  sub¬ 
ject  to  no  human  influences.  In  this  capacity  she  came  to  be 
viewed  also  as  goddess  of  the  rites  of  hospitality.  She  was 
a  personification  of  divine  will  as  it  bore  upon  the  affairs  of 
the  world,  and  accordingly  the  Delphic  oracle  had  been  under 
her  control  before  it  was  yielded  to  Apollo,  to  whom,  as  her 
successor,  she  communicated  the  prophetic  art.  A  long  time 


128 


DEITIES  OF  THE  HIGHEST  ORDER. 


passed  before  Zeus  could  persuade  her  to  become  his  wife — • 
his  first  wife,  as  some  myths  have  it ;  his  second,  according  to 
others,  which  say  that  Metis  was  his  first.  To  him  she  bore 
the  Horse,  Mcerse  or  Parcae,  and  Astrsea,  the  goddess  of 
justice,  of  whom  we  have  already  told  how  she  forsook  the 
earth  during  the  Bronze  Age.  The  proper  home  of  Themis 
was  Olympos,  and  hence  she  was  styled  Urania.  But  during 
the  war  with  the  Titans  she  descended  to  earth,  and  there, 
throughout  the  Golden  Age,  taught  mankind  the  exercise  of 
right  and  moderation.  When,  afterwards,  the  human  race 
sank  into  degradation,  she  returned  again  to  Olympos. 

In  consequence  of  the  profound  wisdom  and  open  truthful¬ 
ness  which  formed  the  essential  features  of  the  character  of 
Themis,  even  the  supreme  gods  consulted  and  acted  on  her 
advice;  as,  for  example,  did  Zeus,  when  he  declined  to 
marry  Thetis,  because  of  the  prediction  of  Themis,  that  a 
son  would  be  the  issue  of  the  marriage,  who  would  excel  even 
his  father  in  might.  We  shall  afterwards  have  to  relate  how 
Thetis  was  given  in  marriage  to  Peleus,  a  mortal,  in  order 
that  her  son  might  not  be  a  source  of  danger  to  the  gods. 
The  worship  of  Themis  extended  to  many  districts  of  Greece, 
where  temples,  altars,  and  statues  were  raised  in  her  honour. 
The  principal  centres  of  it,  however,  were  Athens,  Trcezene, 
the  island  of  JEgina.,  Thebes,  and  Olympia. 

Ancient  artists  represented  her  as  a  woman  of  mature  age, 
with  large  open  eyes;  while  modern  artists — and  they  alone, 
it  must  be  observed — figure  her  as  in  Plate  XVIII. 

She  is  further  represented  holding  a  sword  and  chain  in 
one  hand  and  a  balance  in  the  other,  to  indicate  the  severity 
and  the  accuracy  with  which  justice  is  to  be  meted  out  and 
administered. 


HORJE. 


129 


II.  INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


HITHERTO  our  descriptions  have  been  confined  to  those 
deities  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  who,  because  their 
functions  were  subordinate  to  no  god  but  Zeus,  were  styled 
of  the  superior  order,  or  Olympian  deities,  Hades  and  Per¬ 
sephone  being  included,  though  their  realm  was  the  under¬ 
world,  not  Olympos.  We  proceed  now  to  the  inferior  order, 
such  as  occupied  subordinate  positions  in  the  system  of  gods, 
but  were  nevertheless  worshipped  independently,  if  not  so 
universally  as  the  others. 

We  begin  with  the 


HORyE, 

(plate  xxv.,) 

The  goddesses  of  the  “seasons,”  daughters  of  Zeus  and 
Themis.  Their  number  was  variously  estimated  according  to 
the  variety  of  the  divisions  of  the  year  into  periods, — winter, 
however,  not  being  reckoned  as  one,  because  it  was  the  season 
of  sleep  and  death  in  nature.  Thus  we  find  the  worship  of 
only  two  goddesses  of  seasons  in  Athens,  the  one  called  Thallo, 
or  goddess  of  “blossoming,”  and  the  other  Karpo,  or  god¬ 
dess  of  “harvest  and  fruit.”  But  elsewhere  in  Greece  the 


9 


1 3° 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


usual  number  was  three,  and  as  such  they  were  represented  in 
works  of  art  (see  Plate  XXV.),  with  the  attributes  of  the  sea¬ 
sons  :  Spring  with  its  flowers,  Summer  with  its  grain,  and 
Autumn  with  its  grapes  and  fruit. 

Occasionally  we  find  a  fourth  season,  that  of  Winter,  rep¬ 
resented  in  the  act  of  returning  with  booty  from  the  chase; 
but,  unlike  her  sisters,  she  is  nameless. 

As  deities  of  the  kindly  seasons  which  bring  about  the  bud¬ 
ding  and  growth  of  nature,  they  were  directly  under  the  con¬ 
trol  of  the  superior  deities,  especially  of  Zeus  and  Hera.  At 
times  they  are  to  be  seen  along  with  the  Charites  (Graces) 
in  the  company  of  Aphrodite,  and  sometimes  along  with  the 
Muses  in  the  company  of  Apollo ;  for  it  is  in  the  happy  sea¬ 
sons  of  the  year  that  the  joyous  voice  of  nature  is  heard. 

In  the  capacity  of  goddesses  who  watched  over  the  blessings 
of  the  fields,  it  became  their  duty,  further,  to  regulate  changes 
of  the  weather,  now  opening  and  now  shutting  the  gates  of 
heaven,  alternately  sending  rain  and  sunshine  as  suited  best 
the  increase  of  vegetation.  Tender  and  gladsome,  moving  in 
mazy  dances,  with  crowns  of  gold  and  of  flowers,  they  were 
always  good  and  faithful  to  mankind,  and,  though  sometimes 
seeming  to  be  impatient  to  come  late,  always  bringing  with 
them  something  sweet  and  beautiful,  never  proving  untrue  or 
deceitful. 

The  figure  (in  Plate  XXXI.)  represents  a  Hora  dancing, 
with  a  wreath  of  palm-leaves  on  her  head.  The  dish  of  fruit 
in  her  left  hand  probably  indicates  that  she  is  the  Hora  of 
Autumn. 

Such  were  their  functions  in  nature.  In  consequence,  how- 

♦ 

ever,  of  the  great  and  plenteous  blessings  that  were  observed 
to  flow  from  the  unchangeable  and  orderly  succession  of  the 


POMONA. 


*3* 


seasons,  the  Horae  were  also  supposed  to  watch  over  good  order 
and  propriety  in  human  life  and  morality — a  task  which  seems 
to  have  given  rise  to  the  belief  that  they  were  daughters  of 
Themis.  Their  names,  in  the  cases  where  the  three  appear 
together,  have  been  admirably  chosen  to  suit  this  metaphorical 


J.C.  IC 


notion  of  their  character :  as,  Eunomia  (wise  legislation), 
Dike  (justice),  and  Eirene  (peace).  Eunomia’s  services 
were  mostly  directed  to  political  life,  the  results  being  warmly 
praised  by  poets,  and  her  worship  never  neglected  by  the  State. 
Dike’s  sphere  of  operations  was  more  among  the  incidents  of 
the  lives  of  individuals,  informing,  it  was  said,  her  father  Zeus, 
of  every  injustice  done  on  earth.  Eirene,  finally  being  the 
most  cheerful  of  the  three  sisters,  was  said  to  have  been  the 
mother  of  Plutos — that  is,  of  riches,  the  gay  companion  of 
Dionysos,  and  guardian  goddess  of  songs  and  festivities. 

The  goddess  of  spring  was  also  especially  worshipped  as  a 
Hora  (plate  XXI.)  under  the  title  of  Chloris,  which  corres¬ 
ponds  to  the  Roman  Flora.  She  was  the  goddess  of  buds 
and  flowers,  of  whom  Boreas,  the  north  winter  wind,  and 
Zephyros,  the  west  spring  wind,  were  rival  lovers.  She 
chose  the  latter,  and  became  his  faithful  wife. 


POMONA 

Was  goddess  of  garden  fruits,  and  was  represented  wearing  a 
wreath  composed  of  such,  or  holding  in  her  hand  a  horn  of 
plenty  full  of  them,  with  a  dog  by  her  side.  Her  appearance 
was  that  of  a  virgin  in  rustic  garments.  It  was  said  that  she 

m 

had  been  originally  a  Hamadryad,  but  had  yielded  her  af¬ 
fections  to  Vertumnus.  Her  worship  was  confined  to  the 


1 32 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


Romans.  She  had  a  priest,  styled  fiamen  pomonalis,  spe¬ 
cially  devoted  to  her  service. 

VERTUMNUS, 

The  husband  of  Pomona,  was  worshipped  by  the  Romans  as 
a  deity  of  the  second  order,  who  watched  over  the  seasons  as 
well  as  the  garden  fruits,  and  was  represented  with  attributes 
similar  to  those  of  Pomona.  In  October  an  annual  festival, 
resembling  a  harvest  thanksgiving,  was  held  in  his  honour, 
the  offerings  brought  him  on  that  occasion  consisting  of  first- 
fruits  from  the  garden,  and  wreaths  of  flowers  of  all  kinds. 
Like  Pomona,  he?  too,  had  a  priest  of  his  own.  At  times  he 
was  represented,  like  Saturn,  with  a  pruning-knife  in  his 
hand,  and  a  wreath  composed  of  ears  of  corn  on  his  head. 
Originally  he  was  worshipped  under  the  form  of  a  rough 
wooden  post,  but  had  afterwards  a  beautiful  bronze  statue 
made  by  a  Roman  artist. 


JANUS, 

(plate  XVII.,) 

Was  a  deity  unknown  to  the  Greeks,  but  from  the  earliest 
times  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  Romans,  who  placed  him 
on  almost  an  equal  footing  with  Jupiter,  even  giving  his 
name  precedence  in  their  prayers,  and  invoking  the  aid  of 
both  deities  previous  to  every  undertaking.  To  him  they  as¬ 
cribed  the  origin  of  all  things,  the  introduction  of  the  system 
of  years,  the  change  of  season,  the  ups  and  downs  of  fortune, 
and  the  civilization  of  the  human  race  by  means  of  agricul¬ 
ture,  industry,  arts,  and  religion.  According  to  the  popular 


*':XV1I 


Janus. 


» 


■ 


’ 


. 


. 


JANUS. 


*33 


belief,  Janus  was  an  ancient  king  who  had  come  in  remote 
early  times  from  Greece  to  Latium,  there  instituted  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  the  gods  and  the  erection  of  temples,  and  himself 
deserved  high  honours  like  a  god,  for  this  reason,  that  he  had 
conferred  the  greatest  boon  upon  mankind  by  his  instructions 
in  many  important  ways.  In  some  of  the  stories  he  is  con¬ 
founded  with  Saturn.  In  others  it  is  said  that  Saturn,  driven 
out  of  Greece,  took  refuge  with  Janus  in  Latium,  and  shared 
the  government  with  him. 

It  is  easy  to  explain  the  great  honour  paid  to  Janus  by  a 
people  like  the  Romans,  who,  as  a  rule,  had  this  peculiarity  of 
pondering  well  the  prospects  of  an  undertaking  before  enter¬ 
ing  upon  it.  The  beginning  of  everything  was  a  matter  of 
great  importance  to  them,  and  Janus  was  the  god  of  a  “  good 
beginning.”  It  is  in  this  spirit  that  the  Roman  poet,  Ovid, 
makes  Janus  say,  “Everything  depends  on  the  beginning.” 
Even  when  Jupiter  had  consented  to  an  enterprise,  prosperity 
in  carrying  it  out  was  believed  to  be  under  the  control  of 
Janus,  and,  accordingly,  great  stress  was  laid  on  the  circum¬ 
stances  attending  the  commencement  of  any  project.  Janus 
opened  and  closed  all  things.  He  sat,  not  only  on  the  con¬ 
fines  of  the  earth,  but  also  at  the  gates  of  heaven.  Air,  sea, 
and  land  were  in  the  hollow  of  his  hands.  The  world  moved 
-  on  its  hinges  at  his  command. 

In  accordance  with  this  belief,  he  was  represented,  as  in 
Plate  XVII.,  seated,  with  two  heads,  one  being  that  of  a 
youth,  to  indicate  ‘beginning,’  the  other  that  of  an  old  man, 
to  indicate  the  ‘end,’  whence  he  was  styled  Bifrons  (two- 
headed).  In  his  left  hand  is  a  key,  to  show  that  he  opens  at 
the  beginning,  and  shuts  at  the  end ;  the  sceptre  in  his  right 
is  a  sign  that  he  controls  the  progress  of  every  undertaking. 


134 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


The  first  day  of  January,  a  month  named  after  him,  being 
the  first  day  of  a  new  year,  was  the  occasion  of  a  celebration 
in  his  honour.  At  the  beginning  of  every  month  the  priests 
offered  sacrifice  to  him  at  twelve  altars.  He  was  invoked  every 
morning  as  the  beginner  of  a  new  day.  Even  at  the  sacrifices 
to  other  gods  he  was  remembered,  and  received  offerings  of 
wine  and  cakes,  incense,  and  other  things.  The  husbandman 
prayed  to  him  at  the  beginning  of  seed-time.  When  war  was 
declared  he  was  invoked. 

The  public  worship  of  Janus  as  a  god  was  introduced  into 
Rome  as  early  as  the  time  of  Numa  Pompilius,  a  foundation 
for  its  establishment  having  been  previously  laid  during  the 
reign  of  Romulus.  The  story  runs,  that  the  Sabines  having 
once  made  an  assault  on  the  newly  built  town  of  Rome,  a 
spring  of  boiling  water  suddenly  appeared,  and  was  the  means 
of  destroying  these  enemies.  On  this  spot  a  temple  was 
erected  in  honour  of  Janus,  the  gates  of  which  stood  open  so 
long  as  Rome  was  at  war,  and  were  closed  with  great  cere¬ 
mony  and  rejoicing  only  in  times  of  general  peace.  Rome 
was,  however,  so  continually  engaged  in  war  that,  in  the  course 
of  the  first  seven  hundred  years  after  the  foundation  of  the 
city  the  gates  of  the  temple  were  closed  only  three  times — in 
the  reign  of  Numa  Pompilius,  after  the  first  Punic  war,  and 
during  the  reign  of  Augustus.  Hence  the  temple  of  Janus 
with  its  gates  shut  came  to  be  a  very  emphatic  symbol  of  peace. 

TERMINUS, 

Was  the  god  of  boundaries,  and  had,  when  represented  in  art, 
the  figure  of  a  boundary  stone  or  pillar  surmounted  by  a  head, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  figures  of  Hermes  by  the  wayside  in 


PRIAPOS. 


135 


Greece.  Such  figures  of  Terminus  were  occasionally  sur¬ 
mounted  by  the  head  or  bust  of  another  god,  as,  for  example, 
of  Apollo  or  Athene,  and  in  such  cases  were  styled  Herma- 
pollo,  Hermathene.  Pan  and  Priapos,  both  rural  deities, 
were  also  frequently  represented  in  such  a  form. 

Numa  Pompilius  is  said  to  have  erected  the  first  altar  to  this 
boundary  god,  Terminus,  and  to  have  instituted  his  worship 
among  the  Romans.  To  accustom  his  subjects  to  respect  the 
boundaries  of  their  neighbours,  he  ordered  them  to  be  marked 
off  with  figures  of  the  god,  and  a  festival  to  be  held  in  his 
honour  annually  in  February.  It  was  called  the  Terminalia. 
Boundary  stones  were  adorned  with  flowers  on  the  occasion, 
and  a  general  sacrifice  offered,  accompanied  by  lively  songs. 

PRIAPOS, 

Called  also  Lutinus  by  the  Romans,  was  a  son  of  Dionysos 
and  Aphrodite.  He  was  a  god  of  the  fertility  of  nature,  and, 
in  this  capacity,  also  guardian  of  vineyards,  gardens,  and  cul¬ 
tivated  fields.  The  idea  of  representing  the  productive  power 

of  nature  under  the  form  of  a  god  is  traceable  back  to  a  very 

» 

great  antiquity,  but  in  later  and  depraved  times  it  came  to  be 
misused  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expression  to  coarse  sensual¬ 
ity  and  lust.  This  accounts  for  the  diversity  of  his  represen¬ 
tations,  of  which,  however,  that  is  the  most  correct  in  which 
he  appears  as  a  man  of  years  holding  a  pruning-knife  in  his 
hand,  and  fruit  in  his  lap.  The  principal  centre  of  his  wor¬ 
ship  was  Lampsakos,  a  town  in  Asia  Minor,  on  the  Hellespont, 
whence  it  spread  over  Greece.  His  symbols  were,  like  those 
of  Dionysos,  a  drinking-cup,  a  thyrsus ,  or  a  spear.  At  the 
festivals  in  his  honour  the  sacrifices  consisted  of  milk,  honey, 
and  asses. 


1 36 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


PAN, 

(plate  XIX.) 

Was  looked  upon  by  the  pastoral  inhabitants  of  Greece,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  Arcadia,  as  the  god  who  watched  over  the  pasture- 
fields,  herdsmen,  and  herds.  Woods  and  plains,  hunting  and 
fishing,  were  under  his  immediate  care  and  patronage,  and  on 
this  account  he  was  differently  described  as  a  son  now  of  Zeus, 
now  of  Hermes,  his  mother  being  in  each  case  a  nymph.  As 
god  of  green  fields  he  was  associated  with  the  worship  of 
Dionysos  (Bacchus),  and  as  mountain  god  with  that  of 
Kyb&le.  He  was  fond  of  sportive  dances  and  playing  on 
the  shepherd’s  pipe,  which  afterwards  took  its  name  of  Pan’s 
pipe  from  him,  the  story  being  that  he  was  the  inventor  of  it. 
It  seems  that  a  coy  nymph  named  Syrinx,  whom  he  loved  and 
followed,  was  transformed  into  a  reed,  that  Pan  cut  it  and 
fashioned  it  into  a  pipe  (Syrinx)  with  such  sweet  notes  when 
skilfully  played,  that  he  once  ventured  to  challenge  Apollo 
to  a  competition. 

The  judge  selected  was  Midas,  who  awarded  the  prize  to 
Pan,  and  was,  in  consequence,  punished  by  Apollo,  who  made 
his  ears  grow  like  those  of  an  ass. 

As  a  god  of  herdsmen  and  country  people,  he  journeyed 
through  woods  and  across  plains,  changing  from  place  to  place 
like  the  nomadic  or  pastoral  people  of  early  times,  with  no  fixed 
dwelling,  resting  in  shady  grottoes,  by  cool  streams,  and  playing 
on  his  pipe.  Hills,  caves,  oaks,  and  tortoises  were  sacred  to  him. 

The  feeling  of  solitude  and  lonesomeness  which  weighs 
upon  travellers  in  wild  mountain  scenes,  when  the  weather  is 
stormy,  and  no  sound  of  human  voice  is  to  be  heard,  was  as- 


PAN. 


137 


cribed  to  the  presence  of  Pan,  as  a  spirit  of  the  mountains,  a 
sort  of  Number  Nip.  And  thus  anxiety  or  alarm,  arising  from 
no  visible  or  intelligible  cause,  came  to  be  called  “Panic 
fear,”  that  is,  such  fear  as  is  produced  by  the  agitating  pres¬ 
ence  of  Pan. 

His  common  companions  were  Nymphs  and  Oreads,  who 
danced  to  the  strains  of  his  pipe,  and  were  not  unfrequently 
pursued  by  him  with  violence.  It  is  said  that  he  rendered 
important  service  to  the  gods  during  the  war  with  the  Titans, 
by  the  invention  of  a  kind  of  trumpet  made  from  a  sea-shell, 
with  which  he  raised  such  a  din  that  the  Titans  took  fright, 
and  retreated  in  the  belief  that  some  great  monster  was  ap¬ 
proaching  against  them.  Another  story  is,  that  Dionysos 
being  once  seriously  attacked  by  a  hostile  and  very  numerous 
body  of  men  on  his  way  to  India,  was  freed  from  them  by  a 
sudden  terrible  shout  raised  by  Pan,  which  instantly  caused 
them  to  retreat  in  great  alarm.  Both  stories  appear  to  have 
been  invented  to  give  a  foundation  for  the  expression  “Panic 
fear,”  which  has  been  explained  above. 

Pan,  also  called  Hylaeos  or  forest  god,  was  usually  repre¬ 
sented  as  a  bearded  man  with  a  large  hooked  nose,  with  the 
ears  and  horns  and  legs  of  a  goat,  his  body  covered  with  hair, 
with  a  shepherd’s  pipe  (syrinx)  of  seven  reeds,  or  a  shepherd’s 
crook  in  his  hand,  as  in  Plate  XIX. 

From  Greece  his  worship  was  transplanted  among  the 
Romans,  by  whom  he  was  styled  Inuus,  because  he  taught 
them  to  breed  cattle,  and  Lupercus,  because  he  taught  them 
to  employ  dogs  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  herds  against 
wolves.  The  other  forest  deities,  who  were  represented  like 
Pan  with  goat’s  legs,  were  called  ^gipanes,  and  sometime? 
Paniski. 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


138 


FAUNUS,  or  FATUUS, 

Was  a  purely  Roman  deity,  originally  resembling  the  Greek 
Pan,  as  is  implied  in  the  name,  which  is  only  another  form 
of  the  same  word.  In  process  of  time,  however,  his  character 
passed  through  many  changes,  and  became  different  in  many 
respects  from  that  of  the  Greek  god.  It  was  not  till  late  times, 
when  the  religion  and  myths  of  the  Greeks  emigrated  into 
Italy,  that  the  comparison  of  him  with  the  Arcadian  Pan  was 
revived,  and  the  identity  of  both  asserted.  The  Roman  poets 
frequently  call  the  Greek  Pan  by  the  Roman  name  of  Faunus. 
But  the  latter  had  certain  myths  peculiar  to  himself,  and  is 
represented  by  them  as  a  son  of  Picus,  and  grandson  of  Sa- 
turnus,  or,  according  to  another  version,  a  son  of  Mars,  and 
originally  an  ancient  king  of  Latium,  who,  for  the  good  he 
did  his  people,  by  introducing  agriculture  and  civilization, 
came  to  be  worshipped  after  his  death  as  a  prophetic  deity  of 
forest  and  field,  under  the  name  of  Fatuus.  His  oracles  were 
delivered  in  groves,  and  communicated  by  means  of  dreams, 
which  those  desiring  them  obtained  by  sleeping  in  sacred 
places  on  the  hides  of  animals  that  had  been  offered  as  sacri¬ 
fices.  Fauna  also  delivered  oracles,  but  only  to  women. 
(See  below.) 

As  god  of  the  husbandman  and  patron  of  agriculture  and 
cattle-rearing,  an  annual  festival,  the  Lupercalia,  or  Faun- 
alia,  was  celebrated  in  his  honour  by  the  Romans  on  the  5  th 
of  December.  It  was  accompanied  by  sacrifices  of  goats, 
offerings  of  milk  and  wine,  banquets,  and  dancing  in  the  open 
air  in  meadows  and  at  cross-roads.  In  the  middle  of  Febru- 
ary  also  sacrifice  was  presented  to  him.  He  had  two  temples 
in  Rome.  Artistic  representations  of  him  are  rare,  and  not 


I 


PICUS,  PICUMNUS,  AND  PILUMNUS.  1 39 


easily  distinguished  from  those  of  Pan.  The  plural  form  of 
the  word,  Fauni,  is  merely  a  Roman  expression  for  what  the 
Greeks  called  Paniski  or  Panes. 

PICUS,  PICUMNUS,  and  PILUMNUS. 

Picus  was  also  a  pure  Roman  deity,  a  son  and  a  successor  of 
Saturnus,  father  of  Faunus,  and  husband  of  Canens.  He 
was  an  ancient  prophet  and  forest  god.  Another  story  has  it 
that  he  loved  and  married  Pomona.  Circe,  the  witch,  was 
attracted  by  his  beauty,  and  finding  her  affection  not  returned, 
revenged  herself  by  changing  him  into  a  woodpecker — a  bird 
which  was  held  to  be  a  sacred  symbol  of  prophecy  by  the 
Augurs  or  Roman  priests,  whose  office  was  to  foretell  coming 
events  by  observing  the  flight  of  birds  and  by  various  other 
phenomena.  In  early  times  his  figure  consisted  of  a  wooden 
pillar  with  a  woodpecker  on  it,  which  was  afterwards  exchanged 
for  a  figure  of  a  youth  with  a  woodpecker  on  his  head,  the  Ro¬ 
mans  generally  considering  the  appearance  of  that  bird  to  be 
a  sign  of  some  special  intention  of  the  gods.  Picus,  besides 
being  worshipped  as  a  prophet  and  a  god,  was  also  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  first  kings  of  Italy,  and  must  not  be  confounded 
with  Picumnus,  who,  with  his  brother  Pilumnus,  formed 
a  pair  of  Roman  deities  whose  office  was  to  watch  over  married 
life.  It  was  the  custom  to  spread  a  couch  for  them  at  the 
birth  of  a  child.  Pilumnus,  it  was  said,  would  drive  away 
all  illness  from  the  childhood  of  the  newly-born  infant  with 
the  club  ( pilum )  with  which  he  used  to  pound  the  grain ; 
while  Picumnus,  who  had  introduced  the  manuring  of  land, 
would  give  the  child  growth.  Stories  were  told  of  the  two 
brothers,  of  famous  deeds  in  war  and  peace,  such  as  were 
ascribed  to  the  Dioscuri  (Castor  and  Pollux). 


140 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


FAUNA,  OR  FATUA, 

The  wife,  or,  according  to  other  myths,  the  daughter  of 
Faunus,  was  a  Roman  goddess,  whose  origin  and  significa¬ 
tion  have  been  rendered  very  obscure  by  the  variety  of  stories 
about  her.  She  was  identified  with  the  goddess  Ops,  with 
Kybele,  with  Semele,  the  mother  of  Dionysos  (Bacchus), 
with  Maia,  the  mother  of  Flermes,  with  Gaea,  Hekate,  and 
other  goddesses.  In  the  earliest  times  she  was  called  simply 
the  “kind  goddess,”  her  proper  name  as  well  as  her  origin 
being  given  out  as  a  mystery.  Her  festival  took  place  on  the 
first  night  of  May,  and  was  celebrated  with  wine,  music,  merry 
games,  and  mysterious  ceremonies,  at  which  only  women  and 
girls  were  permitted  to  be  present.  Fauna  obtained  the 
name  of  the  “kind  goddess”  because,  as  some  thought,  her 
benevolence  extended  over  the  whole  creation,  in  which  case 
it  was  not  strange  that  she  should  be  identified  with  other 
deities.  As  Fatua  she  was  represented  with  the  appearance 
sometimes  of  Juno,  sometimes  of  Kybele,  but  commonly  as  an 
aged  woman,  with  pointed  ears,  holding  a  serpent  in  her  hand. 

The  offspring  of  Fatua  and  Fatuus  were  the  Fatui,  who  were 
considered  to  be  prophetic  deities  of  the  fields,  and  sometimes 
evil  genii,  who  were  the  cause  of  nightmares  and  such  like. 
The  name  and  obscure  significations  of  this  goddess  seem  to 
have  given  rise  to  the  fantastic  creations  of  modern  times,  which 
we  call  Fays — that  is,  beings  with  the  power  of  witchcraft  and 
prophecy,  and  possessed  now  with  good,  now  with  bad  quali¬ 
ties, — now  useful  and  helping  to  men,  now  mischievous. 


. 


X I X 


THE  SATYRS. 


141 

THE  SATYRS, 

(plate  XIX.,) 

Like  the  Roman  Silvanus,  belong  to  the  order  of  forest 
deities,  and  are  often  confounded  with  the  Panes  and  Fauni, 
though  quite  distinct  from  them.  They  represented  the  genial, 
luxuriant  life  in  Nature,  which,  under  the  protection  and  with 
the  aid  of  Dionysos  (Bacchus),  spreads  over  fields,  woods  and 
meadows,  and  were,  without  doubt,  the  finest  figures  in  all  his 
company.  As  such  at  least  they  appear  in  the  art  of  the  best 
times,  being  never  figured,  like  the  Panes  or  Paniski,  as  half 
man,  half  animal,  but  at  most  exhibit  only  such  signs  of  an 
animal  form  as  small  goat’s  horns,  and  a  small  goat’s  tail,  to 
show  that  their  nature  was  only  a  little  inferior  in  nobility  to 
that  within  the  divine  or  pure  human  form. 

The  Satyrs  constitute  a  large  family,  and  may  be  distin¬ 
guished  into  several  classes,  the  highest  of  which  were  those 
who  nearly  resembled  their  god  (Dionysos)  in  appearance, 
and  whose  occupation  was  either  to  play  on  the  flute  for  his 
amusement,  or  to  pour  out  his  wine.  To  another  class  be¬ 
longed  those  older  figures,  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
Sileni ;  and  to  a  third,  the  very  juvenile  so-called  Satyriski. 
The  figure  given  in  Plate  XIX.  is  that  of  a  satyr  of  the  high¬ 
est  order.  He  is  represented  as  a  slender  youth  leaning  care¬ 
lessly  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  resting  from  playing  on  a  flute. 
His  hair  is  shaggy;  on  his  brow  are  very  small  goat’s  horns. 
His  countenance  has  a  touch  of  animal  expression  in  it.  He 
wears  nothing  but  a  nebris  or  panther’s  skin  thrown  over  his 
shoulder. 

The  life  of  the  Satyrs  was  spent  in  woods  and  on  hills, 


» 


142  INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


in  a  constant  round  of  amusements  of  all  kinds  :  hunting, 
dancing,  music,  drinking,  gathering  and  pressing  the  grapes, 
or  in  the  company  of  the  god,  whirling  .in  wild  dances  with 
the  Maenads.  Their  musical  instruments  were  the  syrinx,  flute, 
and  cymbals. 

We  may  remark  in  passing,  that  the  term  “satire,”  com¬ 
monly  applied  to  poems  of  abuse,  has  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  the  Satyrs,  and  for  this  reason  should  not  be  written 
“  satyre,”  though  derived  from  satura.  The  latter  is  an  old 
Latin  word,  which  signified  originally  a  poetic  dialogue  or 
gossip,  which  from  its  nature  was  admirably  adapted  for  con¬ 
veying  criticism  and  indirect  abuse,  or  satire  in  our  sense 
of  the  word. 


KOMOS, 

Was  worshipped  as  guardian  of  festal  banquets,  of  mirthful 
enjoyments,  of  lively  humour,  fun,  and  social  pleasure,  with 
attributes  expressing  joy  in  many  ways.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  was  represented  frequently  as  an  illustration  of  the  conse¬ 
quences  of  nightly  orgies,  with  torch  reversed,  in  drunken 
sleep,  or  leaning  against  something. 

SILVANUS, 

Like  Faunus,  was  purely  a  Roman  god,  whose  function 
also  was  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  herdsmen,  living  in 
woods  and  fields,  and  taking  care  to  preserve  boundary  lines 
and  banks  of  rivers.  It  was  said  that  he  erected  the  first 
boundary  stones  to  mark  off  the  fields  of  different  possessors 
from  each  other,  and  thus  became  the  founder  of  a  regular 
system  of  landowning.  He  was  distinguished  according  to 


PALES. 


*43 


4 


the  three  departments  of  his  activity,  house,  field,  and  wood. 
In  works  of  art  Silvanus  appears  altogether  as  a  purely 
human  figure — a  cheerful  aged  man  holding  a  shepherd's  pipe, 
(for  he,  like  the  other  deities  of  wood  and  field,  was  given  to 
music,)  and  carrying  a  branch  of  a  tree  to  mark  him  specially 
as  god  of  the  forest.  This  branch,  which  sometimes  is  that 
of  a  cypress,  is  explained  as  referring  to  his  love  for  the  beauti¬ 
ful  Cyparissus,  whom  he  is  said  to  have  changed  into  a 
cypress.  There  was  a  figure  of  Silvanus  in  Rome  beside  the 
temple  of  Saturn,  and  two  sanctuaries  dedicated  to  him. 
Women  were  excluded  from  his  worship.  The  myths  are  not 
clear  about  his  origin.  Some  of  them  describe  him  as  a  son 
of  Saturn. 

PALES, 

Was  worshipped  originally  in  Sicily,  and  afterwards  by  the 
Romans,  as  a  deity  of  cattle-rearing,  being,  according  to  some, 
male,  according  to  others,  female.  A  merry  festival,  called 
Palilia,  was  held  in  honour  of  this  deity  every  year  on  the 
2 1 st  of  April,  the  day  on  which  the  foundation  of  the  city  of 
Rome  was  said  to^  have  been  laid.  Offerings  of  milk  and 
must  were  presented  to  her,  while  pipes  were  played  and  cym¬ 
bals  beat  round  a  blazing  fire  of  hay  and  straw.  An  ox  was 
driven  through  this  blazing  fire,  the  herdsmen  rushing  after 
it,  a  ceremony  intended  for  a  symbol  of  expiation.  This  fes¬ 
tival,  because  of  its  falling  on  the  anniversary  of  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  the  city,  served  also  to  commemorate  that  event. 

This  ancient  deity  was  represented  as  an  aged  woman  lean¬ 
ing  on  a  leafless  branch  of  a  tree,  or  holding  a  shepherd’s 
crook  in  her  hand,  and  was  frequently  identified  with  F auna, 
sometimes  with  Kybele,  and  even  with  Vesta.  '  ^ 


144 


INFERIOR  DEITIES^ 


SILENOS,  and  THE  SILENI. 

In  some  of  the  myths  Silenos  is  represented  as  a  son  of 
Hermes  (Mercury,)  in  others,  of  Pan  and  a  nymph,  the 
latter  statement  accounting  for  his  being  figured  with  the  tail 
and  ears  of  a  goat,  while  the  rest  of  his  form  was  purely  hu¬ 
man.  He  was  usually  described  as  the  oldest  of  the  Satyrs, 
— of  whom,  indeed,  all  those  well  advanced  in  years  were 
styled  Sileni.  Owing  to  his  age,  he  came  to  be  looked  upon 
as  a  sort  of  paternal  guardian  of  the  light-headed  troops  of 
Satyrs,  though,  with  regard  to  mythological  signification,  he 
was  quite  different  from  them.  One  myth  traces  his  origin, 
along  with  the  worship  of  Dionysos  (Bacchus),  to  Asia  Minor, 
and  particularly  to  the  districts  of  Lydia  and  Phrygia,  the 
original  centre  of  the  worship  of  Kybele  (Rhea.)  In  that 
quarter  he  was  looked  on  as  a  sprite  or  daemon  of  fertilizing 
fountains,  streams,  marshy  land,  and  luxuriant  gardens,  as 
well  as  the  inventor  of  such  music  as  was  produced  by  the 
syrinx  (Pan’s  pipe)  and  the  double  flute  which  was  used  in 
the  worship  of  Rhea  and  Dionysos. 

According  to  other  stories,  he  was  born  in  and  was  the  first 
king  of  Nysa,  but  which  of  the  many  places  of  that  name  re¬ 
mains  untold.  It  was  most  probably  Nysa  in  Thrace;  for 
Silenos,  with  the  help  of  local  nymphs,  nursed  and  tended 
the  infancy  of  Dionysos,  as  works  of  art  show,  and  this,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  myths,  was  spent  in  Thrace. 

To  the  Greek  mind  he  appeared  specially  as  a  companion 
of  Dionysos,  one  who  knew  how  to  press  the  grapes  for  wine, 
and  so  much  loved  that  liquid  as  readily  to  indulge  in  it  to 
excess,  in  which  case  the  Satyrs  kept  him  steady  on  his  ass, 


OKEANOS,  TETHYS,  PROTEUS. 


145 


or  else  he  would  have  fallen.  To  express  this  feature  of  his 
character,  he  was  figured  with  a  wreath  of  vine  tendrils  on  his 
head,  with  a  drinking-cup  or  wine-skin  in  his  hand,  or  intoxi¬ 
cated  and  supported  by  two  Satyrs.  He  was  a  short,  round- 
bellied,  hairy  old  man,  with  a  bald  head. 

The  ass  or  mule  he  used  to  ride  was  described  as  a  most  in¬ 
telligent  beast,  and  said  to  have  distinguished  itself  at  the 
time  of  the  war  with  the  Giants,  in  which  its  master,  as  com¬ 
panion  and  body-servant,  a  sort  of  Sancho  Panza,  to  Dionysos, 
took  part,  by  braying  so  loudly  as  to  alarm  the  Giants,  and 
help  to  put  them  to  flight. 


OKEANOS,  TETHYS,  PROTEUS. 

Okeanos,  a  son  of  Uranos  and  Gaea,  was  god  of  the  sea, 
and,  like  Nereus,  was  looked  upon  as  the  father  of  a  large 
family  of  marine  deities  who  went  by  the  general  name  of 
Okeanides  (se‘e  below).  He  was  figured  like  Nereus,  but  with 
the  addition  of  a  bull’s  horn,  or  two  short  horns,  a  sceptre  in 
his  hand  to  indicate  his  power,  riding  on  a  monster  of  the  deep, 
or  sitting  with  his  wife,  Tethys,  by  his  side  in  a  car  drawn  by 
creatures  of  the  sea.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  most  upright 
of  his  brother  Titans,  and  to  have  had  no  share  in  the  con¬ 
spiracy  against  Uranos.  For  this  reason  he  retained  his  office, 
while  the  other  Titans  were  consigned  to  Tartaros.  It  was 
under  the  care  of  Okeanos  and  his  wife  that  Hera  grew  up, 
and  to  them  she  turned  for  safety  during  the  war  with  the 
Titans.  So  quickly  had  his  offspring  spread  among  the  rivers, 
streams,  and  fountains  of  the  earth,  that  the  sons  alone  were 
reckoned  as  three  thousand  in  number.  He  was  also  identified 
with  the  great  stream,  Okeanos,  which  was  supposed  to  flow  in 
10 


146 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


a  circle  round  the  earth,  and  to  be  the  source  of  all  rivers  and 
running  waters.  His  daughters,  the  Okeanides,  were,  like  all 
marine  deities,  represented  with  crowns  of  sea-weeds,  strings  of 
corals,  holding  shells,  and  riding  on  dolphins.  Painters  ren¬ 
dered  them  as  half  human  and  half  fish  in  shape ;  but  poets 
described  them  as  beings  of  purely  human  form,  giving  their 
number  very  differently. 

Proteus  was  a  son  of  Okeanos  and  Tethys,  whose  pro¬ 
per  dwelling-place  was  the  depths  of  the  sea,  which  he  only 
left  for  the  purpose  of  taking  the  sea-calves  of  Poseidon  to 
graze  on  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  Mediterranean.  Being  an 
aged  man,  he  was  looked  on  as  possessed  of  prophetic  power 
and  the  secrets  of  witchcraft,  though  he  would  not  be  persuaded 
to  exercise  the  former  except  by  deceit  or  under  threat  of  vio¬ 
lence.  Even  then  he  made  every  effort  to  evade  his  questioners, 
changing  himself  into  a  great  variety  of  shapes,  such  as  those 
of  a  lion,  panther,  swine  or  serpent,  and,  as  a  last  resource, 
into  the  form  of  fire  or  water.  This  faculty  of  transformation, 
which  both  Proteus  and  Thetis  possessed,  corresponds  with 
the  great  changeability  in  the  appearance  of  the  sea. 

NEREUS  and  THE  NEREIDES, 

Or  Dorides,  as  they  were  sometimes  called,  are  frequently 
confounded  in  mythology  with  Okeanos  and  his  daughters, 
the  Okeanids,  all  of  them  being  marine  deities  of  a  lower 
order. 

Nereus  was  looked  on  as  an  ancient  sea-god,  a  son. of 
Pontos  and  Gaea,  who,  when  the  dominion  of  the  sea  fell  to 
Poseidon,  obtained  a  position  under  him,  and  along  with  it  the 
power  of  prophecy.  With  Doris,  his  wife,  he  had  as  offspring 
fifty,  or,  according  to  other  accounts,  a  hundred  daughters, 


NEREUS  AND  THE  NEREIDES. 


147 


called  Nereides  or  Dorides,  of  whom  Amphitrite  and 
Thetis,  and  next  to  them  Panope  and  Galatea,  were  the 
most  famous,  the  first  mentioned  having  become  the  wife  of 
Poseidon,  while  even  Zeus  desired  to  marry  the  second.  But 
the  Fates  having  announced  that  from  this  marriage  would 
issue  a  son  who  would  surpass  his  father  in  might,  Zeus  re¬ 
linquished  his  wish,  and  gave  Thetis  in  marriage  to  Peleus, 
to  whom  she  bore  Achilles,  and  thereafter  returned  to  live 
among  her  sisters  of  the  sea. 

Nereus  is  represented  in  works  of  art  as  an  old  man  with 
a  look  of  dignity,  his  daughters  as  sweet,  beautiful  maidens. 
Poets  described  them  as  modest  nymphs  dwelling  in  a  splendid 
cave  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  now  riding  on  dolphins  or  other 
creatures  of  the  deep,  now  swimming,  sporting,  splashing  about 
in  troops  on  the  sea,  sometimes  accompanying  the  sea-born 
Aphrodite,  or  playing  in  the  warm  sunshine  on  the  shores 
of  bays  and  at  rivers’  mouths,  drying  their  wet  tresses.  In  such 
places  they  were  duly  worshipped.  To  the  pious  feeling  of 
the  Greeks  the  whole  of  nature  appeared  in  some  way  divine, 
and  was  accordingly  viewed  with  reverence  and  sanctity.  In 
this  spirit  the  phenomena  of  the  sea  \yere  viewed  under  the 
form  of  divine  personifications  called  Nereides,  the  peaceful 
shimmering  light  upon  its  gently  moving  bosom  being  repre¬ 
sented  by  Galene  and  Glauke,  the  play  of  fantastic  waves 
by  Thoe  and  Halie,  the  impetuous  rush  of  billows  on  island 
shores  by  Nesaie  and  Aktaee,  the  fascination  of  the  gaily 
rising  tide  by  Pasithea,  Erato,  and  Euneike,  the  swell 
and  impulse  of  mighty  waves  by  Pherusa  and  Dynamene, 
who  all  followed  in  the  train  of  Amphitrite. 

It  may  be  that  these  myths  gave  rise  to  the  modern  legends 
of  mermaids. 


148 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


TRITON  AND  THE  TRITONS. 

(plate  XX.) 

Triton,  sometimes  said  to  be  a  son  of  Poseidon  and  Am- 
phitrite,  sometimes  of  Okeanos  and  Tethys,  was  a  marine 
deity  of  a  lower  order,  and  the  herald  of  Neptune,  in  which 
capacity  he  was  represented  using  a  long  twisted  shell  as  a 
horn  to  blow  a  loud  blast  from  when  the  sea  was  to  be 
agitated  with  storms,  and  a  gentle  note  when  a  storm  was  to 
be  hushed  into  rest.  When  Neptune  travelled  on  the  waves, 
it  was  Triton  who  announced  his  approach,  and  summoned 
the  other  marine  deities.  The  Tritons  were  like  him  in  figure, 
and  had  similar  duties  to  perform.  Occasionally  we  find  him 
described  in  stories  as  a  monster  who,  by  his  wantonness  and 
voracity,  rendered  the  sea-shore  dangerous,  and  was  in  con¬ 
sequence  attacked  by  Dionysos  and  Herakles. 

In  the  war  with  the  Giants  he  rendered  considerable  service 
to  Zeus,  by  raising  such  a  frightful  din  with  his  shrill  trumpet, 
that  the  Giants,  fearing  the  approach  of  some  powerful  mon¬ 
ster,  or  some  fresh  danger,  retired. 

Triton  and  the  Tritons  were  represented  in  works  of  art  as 
beings  of  human  form  down  to  the  hips,  covered  with  small 
scales,  holding  a  sea-shell  in  their  hands,  the  lower  part  of  them 
formed  by  the  body  and  tail  of  a  dolphin.  Triton  was  also 
described  as  driving  on  the  sea  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  horses. 

Plate  XX.  represents  a  family  group  of  Tritons  with  a 
dolphin  in  the  background. 

In  the  early  myths  concerning  Triton,  he  appears  as  the  per¬ 
sonification  of  the  roaring  sea,  and,  like  Neptune  and  Amphi- 
trite,  lived  in  a  golden  palace  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean. 


XX 


t 


LEUKOTHEA. - THE  SIRENS. 


149 


LEUKOTHEA 

Was  regarded  by  sailors  and  those  who  travelled  on  the  sea  as 
their  special  and  friendly  goddess,  a  character  which  she  dis¬ 
played  in  her  timely  assistance  of  Odysseus  in  his  dangerous 
voyage.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a  daughter  of  Kadmos, 
the  great-grandson  of  Poseidon.  Originally  the  wife  of 
Athamas,  in  which  capacity  she  bore  the  name  of  Ino,  she 
had  incurred  the  wrath  of  Hera,  because  she  had  suckled  the 
infant  Bakchos,  a  son  of  her  sister  Semele  and  of  Zeus,  and 
for  this  was  pursued  by  her  raving  husband,  and  thrown,  along 
with  her  youngest  son,  Melikertes,  into  the  sea,  from  which 
both  mother  and  child  were  saved  by  a  dolphin  or  by  Nerei¬ 
des.  From  that  time  she  took  her  place  as  a  marine  deity, 
and,  under  the  name  of  Leukothea,  was  known  as  the  pro¬ 
tector  of  all  travellers  by  sea,  while  her  son  came  to  be  wor¬ 
shipped  as  god  of  harbours,  under  the  name  of  Palaemon. 
Her  worship,  especially  at  Corinth,  the  oldest  maritime  town 
of  importance  in  Greece,  and  in  the  islands  of  Rhodes,  Tene- 
dos,  and  Crete,  as  well  as  in  the  coast  towns  generally,  was 
traced  back  to  a  high  antiquity. 

t 

THE  SIRENS, 

(plate  XX.) 

According  to  one  version  of  the  myth,  were  daughters  of  the 
river-god  Acheloos  (hence  their  other  name,  Acheloides) 
and  a  Muse.  According  to  another  version,  they  were 
daughters  of  Phorkys.  In  either  case  they  had  been  nymphs 
and  playmates  of  Persephone,  and  for  not  protecting  her 
when  she  was  carried  off  by  Pluto  were  transformed  by  Deme- 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


I5° 

ter  into  beings  half  woman  and  half  bird  at  first,  and  latterly 
with  the  lower  part  of  the  body  in  the  shape  of  a  fish,  so  that 
they  had  some  resemblance  to  marine  deities  such  as  the  Tri¬ 
tons. 

Plate  XX.  represents  a  Siren,  half  bird  and  half  woman 
in  form,  playing  on  a  double  flute. 

In  the  Homeric  poems  their  number  is  not  specified.  In 
later  times  the  names  of  three  of  them  are  commonly  given : 
Parthenope,  Ligeia,  and  Leukosia.  It  is  said  that  once, 
during  the  time  when  the  greater  part  of  their  body  was  that 
of  a  bird,  they  challenged  the  Muses  to  a  competition  in 
singing,  but  failed,  and  were  punished  by  having  the  prin¬ 
cipal  feathers  of  their  wings  plucked  by  the  Muses,  who 
decked  themselves  with  them. 

The  common  belief  was  that  the  Sirens  inhabited  the  cliffs 
of  the  islands  lying  between  Sicily  and  Italy,  and  that  the 
sweetness  of  their  voices  bewitched  passing  mariners,  compell¬ 
ing  them  to  land  only  to  meet  their  death.  Skeletons  lay 
thickly  strewn  around  their  dwelling  ;  for  they  had  obtained 
the  right  to  exercise  this  cruel  power  of  theirs  on  men  so  long 
as  no  crew  succeeded  in  defying  their  charms.  This  the  Ar¬ 
gonauts,  of  whom  more  will  be  said  hereafter,  were  the  first 
to  accomplish,  by  keeping  their  attention  fixed  on  the  unsur- 
passably  sweet  music  of  their  companion,  Orpheus.  The 
next  who  passed  safely  was  Odysseus.  He  had  taken  the 
precaution,  on  approaching,  to  stop  the  ears  of  his  crew,  so 
that  they  might  be  deaf  to  the  bewitching  music,  and  to  have 
himself  firmly  bound  to  the  mast,  so  that,  while  hearing  the 
music,  he  would  not  be  able  to  follow  its  allurements.  In  this 
way  the  power  of  the  Sirens  came  to  an  end,  and  in  despair 
they  cast  themselves  into  the  sea,  and  were  changed  into  cliffs. 


THE  RIVER-GODS. - NYMPHS. 


15* 

This  transformation  helps  to  explain  the  signification  of  the 
myth  of  the  Sirens,  who  were  probably  personifications  of 
hidden  banks  and  shallows,  where  the  sea  is  smooth  and  invit¬ 
ing  to  the  sailor,  but  proves  in  the  end  the  destruction  of  his 
ship.  The  alluring  music  ascribed  to  them  may  either  refer  to 
the  soft  melodious  murmur  of  waves,  or  be  simply  a  figurative 
expression  for  allurement. 

THE  RIVER-GODS  . 

Were  as  a  rule  looked  upon  as  sons  of  Okeanos,  exercising  a 
dominion  over  individual  rivers.  They  were  represented  as 
bearded  men,  crowned  with  sedge,  and  often  with  horns  on 
their  heads,  reclining  and  resting  one  hand  on  a  rudder,  the 
other  on  a  vase,  out  of  which  water  flows,  to  indicate  the  con¬ 
stant  flow  of  a  river. 

The  names  of  many  of  them  have  been  handed  down  in  an¬ 
cient  myths,  the  most  important  being  Alpheios,  Acheloos, 
Peneis,  Asopos,  Kephissos.  Of  Alpheios,  it  is  said  that 
he  loved  Arethusa,  one  of  the  myths  in  the  train  of  Arte- 
.  mis,  and  so  persistently  followed  her,  though  his  affections 
were  not  returned,  that  Artemis  interfered,  and  changed  the 
nymph,  to  avoid  his  pursuit,  into  a  fountain,  the  waters  of 
which,  notwithstanding,  were  said  to  join  those  of  Alpheios. 

NYMPHS. 

(plate  XXI.) 

The  restless  and  fertile  imagination  of  the  ancients  peopled 
with  beings  of  a  higher  order  than  themselves  every  mountain, 
valley,  plain,  and  forest,  every  thicket,  bush,  and  tree,  every 


152 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


fountain,  stream,  and  lake.  These  beings,  in  whose  existence 
both  Greeks  and  Romans  firmly  believed,  were  called 
Nymphs,  and  resembled  in  many  respects  the  mermaids  and 
fairies  of  modern  superstition. 

Generally  speaking,  the  Nymphs  were  a  kind  of  middle 
beings  between  the  gods  and  men,  communicating  with  both, 
loved  and  respected  by  both;  gifted  with  the  power  of  making 
themselves  visible  or  invisible  at  pleasure ;  able  to  do  many 
things  only  permitted  to  be  done  by  the  gods ;  living  like  the 
gods,  on  ambrosia;  leading  a  cheerful  happy  life  of  long 
duration,  and  retaining  strength  and  youthfulness  to  the  last, 
but  not  destined  to  immortality,  like  the  gods.  In  extraordi¬ 
nary,  cases  they  were  summoned,  it  was  believed,  to  the  coun¬ 
cils  of  the  Olympian  gods,  but  usually  remained  in  their 
particular  spheres,  in  secluded  grottoes  and  peaceful  valleys, 
occupied  in  spinning,  weaving,  bathing,  singing  sweet  songs, 
dancing,  sporting,  or  accompanying  deities  who  passed  through 
their  territories,  hunting  with  Artemis  (Diana),  rushing 
about  with  Dionysos  (Bacchus)  making  merry  with  Apollo 
or  Hermes  (Mercury),  but  always  in  a  hostile  attitude  to¬ 
wards  the  wanton  and  excited  Satyrs. 

Even  the  earliest  of  the  ancient  myths  abound  with  accounts 
of  the  various  things  done  by  nymphs,  while  poetic  fancy  in 
later  times  delighted  to  play  with  such  creations.  The  Greeks, 
the  great  mass  of  them  at  any  rate,  believed  firmly  in  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  a  vast  number  of  nymphs,  and  attested  their  belief  by 
erecting  frequently  very  costly  altars  in  places  where  the  pres¬ 
ence  and  influence  of  these  beings  were  felt, — as  by  fountains, 
or  in  moist  meadows,  in  woods,  and  on  hills.  Grottoes  and 
caves  where  water  dripped  or  flowed,  and  where  the  bees 
hummed,  were  sacred  to  them.  Sanctuaries,  called  Nym- 


NYMPHS. 


1S  3 


phaea,  were  also  erected  for  their  special  honour  in  well 
watered  valleys,  caves,  and  even  in  towns.  Those  in  towns 
being  particularly  splendid  in  appearance,  and  commonly  em¬ 
ployed  for  the  ceremonies  of  marriage.  The  sacrifices  pre¬ 
sented  to  them  consisted  of  goats,  lambs,  milk,  and  oil,  wine 
being  forbidden. 

As  to  the  origin  of  the  Nymphs,  the  stories  are  so  many 
and  so  different  that  they  cannot  be  all  given  here.  Very  many 
of  these  beings,  it  would  seem,  were  the  offspring  of  Zeus  and 
Thetis.  Separating  them  in  the  most  convenient  manner, 
according  to  their  local  habitations  or  reputed  origin,  we  have 
the  following  classes  : — 

1.  Dryads,  or  Hamadryads,  also  called  Alseids, 
nymphs  of  woods  and  trees,  inhabiting  groves,  ravines,  and 
wooded  valleys,  fond  of  making  merry  with  Apollo,  Hermes 
(Mercury),  and  Pan,  and  very  attractive  to  the  Satyrs. 
Sometimes  they  appeared  as  rustic  huntresses  or  shepherdesses. 

2.  Oreads,  or  mountain-nymphs,  sometimes  also  named 
after  the  particular  mountains  which  they  haunted,  as  Peliads 
(from  Pelion),  Idsean  (frotn  Ida),  Kithaeronian  (from  Kithae- 
ron),  etc. 

3.  Limoniads,  or  Leimoniads,  nymphs  of  meadows  and 
flowers. 

4.  Napsese,  or  Auloniads,  nymphs  of  the  mountain  vales 
in  which  herds  grazed.  The  last  three  families  of  nymphs 
were  usually  found  in  the  company  of  Pan,  rushing  gaily  and 
merrily  over  hills  and  valleys,  through  woods  and  meadows. 
A  favourite  and  lovely  nymph  of  the  vales  was  Eurydike, 
who,  being  bitten  by  a  snake,  and  dying  in  consequence,  was 
mourned  by  all  her  sisters,  and  sung  by  Orpheus  in  most 
touching  melancholy  strains. 


*54 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


5.  Okeanids,  daughters  of  Okeanos,  nymphs  of  fountains 
and  streams,  and  named  according  to  the  characteristics  of 
streams, — as  Prymno,  “like  a  cascade  which  falls  over  an 
abrupt  height”  ;  Hippo,  “like a  swift  current”  ;  Plexaure, 
“like  a  dashing  brook”;  Galaxaure,  “like  the  refreshing 
coolness  of  a  shady  stream” ;  Kalypso,  “like  the  hidden 
tide”;  Rhodeia,  “'flowing  among  rose-trees”  ;  Kallirrhoe, 
“like  a  beautiful  stream”;  Melolosis,  “like  a  river  that 
waters  the  meadows”  ;  Telesto,  “  nymph  of  the  cool  springs,” 
which  the  Greeks  piously  used  for  cleansing  and  purification. 

6.  Nereids,  daughters  of  Nereus,  sometimes  also  called 
Dorids,  after  their  mother  (see  Nereus). 

7.  Naiads, — generally  speaking,  nymphs  of  the  liquid 
element,  daughters  of  Zeus.  They  were  styled  “fostering” 
nymphs,  and  for  this  reason  were  commonly  found  in  the 
company  of  Zeus,  Poseidon,  and  Dionysos,  as  well  as  of 
Demeter,  Persephone,  and  Aphrodite,  and  besides  were 
looked  on  as  deities  of  marriage  and  sacred  rites. 

8.  Pdtamids,  nymphs  of  the  rivers. 

9.  Limnads,  nymphs  of  lakes,  marshes,  and  swamps,  most 
dangerous  beings,  who  allured  and  misled  travellers  by  their 
songs  or  mimic  screams  for  help. 

10.  Pleiads,  seven  daughters  of  Atlas  and  Pleione,  sis¬ 
ters  of  the  Hyads. 

11.  Atlantids,  offspring  of  Atlas,  and  belonging  to  the 
same  order  as  the  last  mentioned. 

12.  Hyads,  according  to  the  myth,  daughters  of  Atlas  and 
ZEthra ;  sisters,  or,  according  to  other  versions,  daughters 
of  Hyas.  Languishing  of  grief  at  the  death  of  Hyas,  which 
was  caused  by  a  wild  animal,  they  were  changed  into  stars, 
being  the  seven  stars  which  form  the  head  in  the  constellation 


XXL 


Pegasos  and  tlie  Nymphs,  s. 


Chloris,  or  Flora. 


Tyche,  or  Fortuna. 


ECHO  :  NARKISSOS. 


155 


of  the  Bull  (Taurus).  Their  ascension  takes  place  from  the 
17th  to  the  2 1  st  of  May,  and  usually  indicates  rain,  for  which 
reason  they  were  often  called  the  rainy  stars.  They  were  also 
called  Dodonids,  and  described  as  the  nurses  of  Zeus  of 
Dodona.  One  of  them  was  called  Thyene. 

All  the  most  prominent  of  the  nymphs  had  names  of  their 
own. 

They  were  represented  as  damsels  of  wonderful  beauty,  with 
attributes  suitable  to  their  respective  avocations. 

Plate  XXI.  represents  three  of  them  tending  Pegasos  at 
a  fountain.  All  three  have  their  hair  bound  with  sedge;  two 
of  them  have  vases. 

ECHO:  NARKISSOS. 

Echo  was  a  mountain-nymph,  and  at  the  same  time  a  servant 
of  Hera,  according  to  one  account,  but  had  to  be  kept  at  a 
distance  on  account  of  her  talkativeness.  In  other  accounts 
she  is  described  as  a  beautiful  nymph  whom  the  forest-god 
Pan  loved.  Happening  to  meet  the  beautiful  Narkissos, 
a  son  of  the  river-god  Kephissos,  she  conceived  a  very 
tender  passion  for  him,  which  he  unfortunately  did  not  return. 
Echo  grieved  in  consequence,  and  pined  away  day  by  day  till 
at  length  her  voice  was  all  that  was  left  of  her.  She  then  took 
to  the  mountains  and  woods  which  Pan  frequented,  and 
occupied  herself  in  mimicking  every  vocal  sound  she  heard. 

Narkissos  was  a  personification  of  the  consequences  of 
self-conceit  in  the  matter  of  personal  appearance,  his  vanity 
being  such  that  he  used  to  idle  by  the  brinks  of  clear  fountains, 
and  gaze  upon  the  reflection  of  his  own  face,  till  at  last  he 
languished  in  his  unreturned  love  for  it.  Other  stories  affirm 


i56 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


_ 

that  he  was  punished  for  this  conduct  by  the  gods,  by  being 
changed  into  the  flower  which  still  bears  his  name. 

m 

*  THE  HESPERIDES 

Were  daughters  of  Atlas,  an  enormous  giant,  who,  as  the 
ancients  believed,  stood  upon  the  western  confines  of  the  earth, 
and  supported  the  heavens  on  his  shoulders.  Their  mother 
was  Hesperis,  a  personification  of  the  “  region  of  the  West,” 
where  the  sun  continued  to  shine  after  he  had  set  on  Greece, 
and  where,  as  travellers  told,  was  an  abundance  of  choice 
delicious  fruits,  which  could  only  have  been  produced  by  a 
special  divine  influence.  The  Gardens  of  the  Hesperides 
with  the  golden  apples  were  believed  to  exist  in  some  island 
in  the  ocean,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  thought,  in  the  islands 
on  the  north  or  west  coast  of  Africa.  They  were  far-famed  in 
antiquity;  for  it  was  there  that  springs  "of  nectar  flowed  by 
the  couch  of  Zeus,  and  there  that  the  earth  displayed  the 
rarest  blessings  of  the  gods :  it  was  another  Eden.  As  know¬ 
ledge  increased  with  regard  to  western  lands,  it  became 
necessary  to  move  this  paradise  farther  and  farther  out  into 
the  Western  Ocean. 

As  to  the  origin  of  these  precious  golden  apples,  there  is  a 
myth  which  says  that  among  the  deities  who  attended  the  mar¬ 
riage  ceremony  of  Zeus  and  Hera,  bringing  various  presents 
with  them,  was  Titsea,  a  goddess  of  the  earth,  whose  gift  con¬ 
sisted  in  her  causing  a  tree  to  spring  up  with  golden  apples  on  it. 
The  care  of  this  tree,  which  highly  pleased  the  newly-wedded 
pair,  was  entrusted  to  the  Hesperides.  But,  as  they  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  pluck  and  eat  its  fruit,  it  became 
necessary  to  place  the  serpent  Ladon  to  watch  it.  Herakles, 


THE  MUSES. 


*57 


among  his  other  adventures,  slew  this  serpent  and  carried  off 
some  of  the  apples,  which,  however,  were  afterwards  returned 
to  the  Hesperides,  through  the  kindness  of  Athene. 

The  common  account  speaks  of  only  three  Hesperides, — 
./Egle,  Erytheis  and  Hespere.  Arethusa  was  afterwards 

added,  and  in  time  three  more,  so  that  they  were  seven  in  all. 

£  '  " 

THE  MUSES, 

Or  Pierides,  as  they  were  also  styled,  were  regarded  as  nymphs 
of  the  springs  that  bickered  down  the  sides  of  Mount  Helikon 
and  Mount  Parnassos,  called  Kastalia,  Aganippe,  and 
Pimpla  or  Pimplea,  the  waters  of  which  were  thought  to  have 
the  property  of  inspiration.  Their  origin  was  traced  to  Zeus 
and  the  Titanic  nymph  Mnemosyne,  the  name  of  Pierides 
being  applied  to  them  from  Pieria,  on  Mount  Olympos, 
the  reputed  place  of  their  birth,  a  locality  which  appears  to 
have  been  originally  the  principal  centre  of  their  worship, 
whence  it  spread  first  and  most  conspicuously  to  Mount  Heli¬ 
kon,  in  Boeotia,  and  farther  to  Athens,  Sparta,  Troezene,  and 
elsewhere.  It  was  usual  to  ascribe  this  extension  of  the  worship 
of  the  Muses  to  a  Thracian  named  Pieros,  of  whom  it  was  also 
said  that,  having  nine  daughters,  he  named  them  each  after  one 
of  the  Muses,  and  challenged  the  latter  to  a  competition  in 
music,  the  upshot  of  which  was  that  his  daughters  lost  the 
award,  and  were,  as  a  punishment  for  their  daring,  transformed 
into  singing-birds.  The  worship  of  the  Muses  on  Mount 
Helikon  was  celebrated  in  a  grove,  in  which  were  the  sacred 
fountains  of  Aganippe  and  Hippokrene,with  many  monu¬ 
ments  of  art  dedicated  to  the  Muses,  contests  called  Museia 
being  associated  with  the  ceremonies. 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


158 


The  nine  Muses  whom  we  are  accustomed  to  read  of  in  the 
Greek  and  Roman  mythology,  were  looked  upon  as  the  patron 
goddesses  of  music  and  song,  of  poetry,  and  of  the  fine  arts 
generally,  that  tended  to  promote  the  civilization  of  mankind. 
Their  local  habitation  was  on  the  summits  of  Mounts  Helikon, 
Parnassos,  and  Pindos.  They  would,  however,  frequently 
visit  Olympos,  to  gladden  the  blessed  existence  of  the  gods 
there  by  the  exercise  of  their  arts,  especially  by  music  and  the 
recital  of  songs,  the  burden  of  which  was  probably,  as  on  most 
other  occasions,  the  glory  and  omnipotence  of  Zeus.  Some¬ 
times  they  would  lend  their  presence  also  to  enliven  happy 
incidents  in  the  lives  of  favourite  mortals — such,  for  example, 
as  the  marriage  of  Kadmos  and  Harmonia,  or  that  of  Peleus 
and  Thetis;  and  sometimes  even  at  moments  of  great  sorrow, 
as  at  the  death  of  Achilles,  they  would  descend  to  mourn  in 
strains  which  drew  forth  tears  from  gods  and  men.  Their 
leader  was  Apollo,  who  in  that  capacity  bore  the  title  of  Mu- 
sagetes.  But  though  generally  associated  with  Apollo,  and 
probably  therefore  imbued  with  the  form  of  inspiration  pecu¬ 
liar  to  the  god  of  oracles,  they  are  also  found  to  have  been 
connected  with  the  worship  of  Dionysos,  whose  inspiration 
is  known  to  have  been  of  a  wild  and  excited  nature.  “As  nymphs 
of  the  sacred  streams  on  the  mountains  where  they  lived,  their 
music  and  song  must,  for  the  sake  of  harmony,  have  repeated 
the  rushing  movement  of  water,  and  it  may  be  to  this  that 
their  association  with  Dionysos  is  due. 

In  addition  to  the  usual  nine  we  hear  of  three  other  Muses, 
Melete,  Mneme,  and  Acedte,  who  are  described  as  daugh¬ 
ters  of  Uranos,  and  supposed  to  have  existed  from  the  earliest 
times.  As,  however,  both  Homer  and  Hesiod  appear  to  know 
only  the  number  nine,  we  may  assume  that  the  belief  in  the 


XXII. 


Melpomene. 


Thalia. 


THE  MUSES. 


159 


existence  of  the  other  three  must  have  originated  in  the  specu¬ 
lations  of  comparatively  later  times. 

In  works  of  art  of  the  earlier  period  the  Muses  were  always 
represented  together  in  company,  all  wearing  the  same  kind 
of  dress,  and  all  provided  with  attributes  in  the  forms  of  musi¬ 
cal  instruments — such  as  the  lyre,  harp,  and  flute,  or  with 
rolls  of  manuscript.  The  custom  of  collecting  in  such  rolls 
literary  works  produced  under  the  auspices  of  the  Muses  was 
the  first  foundation  of  libraries  and  museums,  such  as  they 
exist  in  modern  times,  and  thus  the  word  “museum”  carries 
us  back  to  the  early  worship  of  the  Muses,  and  to  the  early 
civilization  so  far  as  it  was  due  to  their  inspiration. 

The  nine  Muses  were  represented  according  to  their  various 
avocations  in  the  following  manner: — 

1.  Klio  (Plate  XXII.),  the  muse  of  History,  seated  wearing 
a  wreath  of  laurel,  and  holding  out  a  half-open  inscribed 
parchment  roll ;  beside  her  a  cylindrical  box,  containing  more 
of  these  manuscripts.  In  other  cases  she  appears  standing, 
holding  a  roll  of  manuscript  in  one  hand,  an  instrument  for 
writing  with  in  the  other. 

2.  Melpomene,  (Plate  XXII.),  the  muse  of  Tragedy,  a 
serious,  dignified  figure,  standing  with  her  left  foot  raised  on 
a  rock,  holding  in  her  right  hand  a  mask,  such  as  was  worn 
by  tragedians,  and  in  her  left  apparently  a  small  roll  of  a  part 
in  a  play;  her  long  robe  or  tunic  is  girt  under  her  breast,  and 
falls  in  wide  folds ;  from  her  shoulder  a  mantle  or  peplos  falls 
carelessly.  In  other  cases  she  wears  a  diadem  or  a  wreath  of 
cypress,  and  holds  a  short  sword  or  a  club  in  her  hand. 

3.  Thalia  (Plate  XXII.),  the  muse  of  Comedy  and  Bur¬ 
lesque,  standing,  clad  in  a  robe  or  tunic,  over  which  is  a 
mantle,  with  a  fringe,  thrown  over  the  left  shoulder,  and 


i6o 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


wrapped  round  the  legs,  leaving  the  right  arm  free ;  in  her 
right  hand  a  shepherd’s  crook,  in  the  other  a  mask,  such  as 
was  worn  by  actors  in  the  Satyric  plays. 

4.  Kalliope  (Plate  XXIII.),  the  muse  of  Heroic  Poems, 
and  looked  on  as  the  chief  of  the  Muses,  on  which  account 
she  sometimes  appears  as  their  representative;  seated,  holding 
a  writing  tablet  and  a  stylus.  In  other  cases  she  is  standing, 
crowned  with  a  wreath,  and  holding  a  manuscript  roll  in  her 
hand,  or  a  pipe  {tuba)  round  which  a  branch  of  laurel  is  twined. 

5.  Urania  (Plate  XXIV.),  the  muse  of  Astronomy,  seated 
beside  a  globe,  holding  a  pair  of  compasses  in  one  hand, 
while  with  the  other  she  points  upwards  towards  the  heavens. 
In  other  cases  she  wears  a  crown  of  stars,  and  holds  a  lyre, 
her  eyes  turned  towards  the  stars,  and  pointing  out  at  the  same 
time  something  on  a  globe  beside  her. 

6.  Euterpe  (Plate  XXIV.),  the  muse  of  the  art  of  Music, 
the  “giver  of  pleasure,”  as  her  name  implies,  standing,  play¬ 
ing  on  a  double  flute.  In  other  cases  she  plays  on  other 
instruments. 

7.  Polyhymnia,  or  Polymnia  (Plate  XXIV.),  the  muse 
of  Song  and  of  Oratory,  her  name  signifying  “rich  in  song,” 
was  also  described  as  the  inventor  of  myths,  on  which  account 
she  was  represented  in  the  attitude  of  contemplation,  with  one 
finger  raised  to  her  lips ;  on  her  head  a  laurel  wreath.  In 
other  cases  she  appears  in  a  quiet,  attentive,  observant  mood, 
leaning  forward  on  a  pillar,  her  arms  concealed  under  her 
drapery,  and  wearing  at  times  a  veil,  to  indicate  the  hidden 
truths  within  the  myths,  while  her  posture  was  intended  to 
indicate  the  process  of  revolving  the  meaning  of  them.  For 
this  reason  she  was  also  viewed  as  the  goddess  of  serious  and 
sacred  poems  and  hymns.  ’ 


XXIV 


Euterpe. 


Polyhymnia. 


Urania. 


( 


% 


XXII I. 


Mother  of  the  Muses. 


XXV 


Hora) 


THE  MUSES. 


161 


8.  Erato  (Plate  XXV.),  the  muse  of  Love  and  Marriage 
Songs,  wearing  a  wreath,  and  playing  on  a  large  lyre  with 
many  strings.  In  other  cases  she  appears  holding  a  lyre  by 
her  side  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  an  arrow  or  a  wreath 
of  myrtle  and  roses. 

9.  Terpsichore  (Plate  XXV.),  the  muse  of  Dancing, 
wearing  a  wreath,  and  playing  on  a  lyre.  At  other  times  she 
holds  cymbals,  has  her  robe  girt  up,  and  appears  in  the  atti¬ 
tude  of  dancing. 

The  mother  of  the  Muses  was  called,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  Mnemosyne,  that  is,  “  Memory,”  and  especially  the 
memory  or  recollection  of  great  events,  such  as  the  war  with 
the  Titans,  that  was  said  to  have  occurred  at  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  the  world’s  history,  and  must  continue  to  occur  until 
the  universe  is  brought  into  perfect  harmony.  In  later  times 
she  came  to  be  viewed  merely  as  goddess  of  memory,  and 
worshipped  along  with  the  Muses. 

Plate  XXIII.  represents  her  standing  in  a  quiet,  thoughtful 
attitude,  both  arms  under  her  drapery,  to  indicate  the  silent 
mysterious  action  of  memory. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  muses  to  play,  under  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  Apollo,  at  the  banquets  and  marriage  ceremonies 
among  the  gods,  while  the  Horae,  Charites  (Graces),  Aphro¬ 
dite,  and  other  deities  given  to  mirth  and  gaiety,  danced.  In 
this  fashion  the  ancients  represented  under  the  form  of  persons 
the  union  of  joy,  music,  poetry,  dance,  and  merriment. 


11 


162 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


IRIS, 

(PLATE  XXVI.,) 

Goddess  of  the  rainbow,  was  a  daughter  of  Thaumas  and 
Elektra,  a  grand-daughter  of  Okeanos  and  Gaea,  and  a 
sister  of  the  Harpies.  As  messenger  of  Hera  and  Zeus,  she 
lived  among  the  other  deities  of  Olympos,  which  she  only  left 
for  the  purpose  of  conveying  the  divine  commands  to  mankind, 
by  whom  she  was  looked  on  as  a  guide  and  adviser.  She  tra¬ 
velled  with  the  speed  of  wind  always,  from  one  end  of  the 
world  to  the  other,  could  penetrate  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
or  to  the  Styx,  and  in  this  respect  formed  a  female  counterpart 
of  Hermes  (Mercury)  in  his  capacity  of  messenger  of  the 
gods,  she  holding  much  the  same  position  towards  Hera  as  he 
did  towards  Zeus. 

It  was  Iris,  the  ancients  believed,  who  charged  the  clouds 
with  water  from  lakes  and  rivers,  in  order  that  they  might  let 
it  fall  again  upon  the  earth  in  gentle  fertilizing  showers ;  and, 
accordingly,  when  her  bow  appeared  in  the  clouds  the  farmer 
welcomed  it  as  a  sign  of  rain  to  quicken  his  fields,  and  gladly 
paid  honours  to  the  goddess  whose  presence  he  recognized  in 
the  rainbow  with  its  splendid  colours. 

She  was  represented  as  a  beautiful  virgin  with  wings  of 
varied  hue,  in  robes  of  bright  colours,  and  riding  on  a  rainbow; 
at  other  times  with  a  nimbus  on  her  head,  in  which  the  colours 
of  the  rainbow  were  reflected. 

Plate  XXVI.  gives  a  figure  of  her  standing,  clad  in  a  long 
robe,  holding  in  one  hand  a  herald’s  staff,  such  as  Hermes 
also  carries  ( caduceus ),  and  in  the  other  a  helmet. 


XXVI 


^EOLOS. 


163 


yEOLOS 

Was  the  son  of  a  king  named  Hippotes,  and  lived  on  one  of 
the  abrupt  rocky  Lipara  islands  close  to  Sicily,  along  with  his 
offspring,  six  sons  and  six  daughters,  who  were  married  in 
pairs,  and  made  life  merry  with  their  music.  In  the  caves  of 
the  island  were  imprisoned  the  winds,  JEolos  letting  them  out 
in  gales,  or  in  a  soft  favouring  breeze,  at  the  will  of  the  higher 
gods. 

The  idea  of  the  winds  beings  thus  kept  in  a  cavern  under  the 
restraint  of  a  divine  person,  appears  to  have  suggested  itself  to 
the  ancients  from  the  strong  draught  that  is  felt  on  entering  a 
cave  or  subterraneous  passage ;  but  whether  the  belief  in  the 
existence  of  such  a  personage  reached  back  to  primitive  times, 
when  mankind  lived  to. a  great  extent  in  places  of  that  kind,  is 
not  certain.  The  influence  of  Hiolos  was  felt  both  genially 
and  the  reverse  on  land  and  on  sea,  but  principally  on  sea, 
which  he  could  more  readily  command  from  the  island  where 
he  lived. 

As  an  instance  of  his  kindliness  to  travellers  by  sea,  we  may 
here  mention  his  hospitable  reception  of  Odysseus  (Ulysses) 
on  that  errant  homeward  voyage  of  his.  On  departing,  ^Eolos 
gave  him  a  great  bag  containing  all  the  contrary  winds,  putting 
it  on  board  the  ship,  so  that  he  might  reach  Ithaca  with  a  fair 
wind.  Odysseus  himself  remained  steadily  and  anxiously  at 
the  helm  for  several  days,  but  his  native  land  coming  at  length 
in  sight,  he  sank  overpowered  with  sleep.  His  followers  ob¬ 
serving  this  proceeded  to  indulge  their  curiosity  to  see  the 
costly  presents  which  they  fancied  the  bag  contained,  opened 
it,  and  out  burst  the  imprisoned  wind  with  a  roar  and  a  force 
that  drove  the  ship  again  far  out  of  her  course. 


164 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


But  besides  this  conception  of  the  winds  as  mere  elements  in 
the  hands  of  Hiolos,  there  was  another  which  represented  them 
as  each  personified  by  a  separate  divine  being,  living  apart, 
and  being  directly  under  the  control  of  Zeus  and  Poseidon. 


THE  WIND  GODS, 

Of  whom  the  principal  were  Boreas,  the  north  wind,  Euros, 
the  east  wind,  Notos,  the  south  wind,  and  Zephyros,  the 
west  wind,  were,  as  we  have  previously  said,  the  offspring  of 
Eos  and  Astraeos,  the  parentage  of  fierce  destructive  winds 
being  assigned  to  Typhon.  According  to  another  rdport, 
neither  the  origin  nor  the  number  of  the  deities  of  the  winds 
was  known,  the  prevalence  in  particular  districts  of  winds 
blowing  from  this  or  that  point  between  the  four  chief  quar¬ 
ters,  naturally  giving  rise  to  a  set  of  personifications  such  as 
north-west  wind,  south-west  wind,  and  others. 

The  character  and  appearance  ascribed  to  each  of  these 
deities  was,  as  usual  in  Greek  mythology,  such  as  was  suggested 
by  the  phenomena  of  each  wind — as,  for  example,  the  strength 
and  fury  of  the  north  wind,  or  the  genial  warmth  of  the  south¬ 
west.  Some  were  thought  to  be  male,  some  female,  and  all 
winged.  Euros,  who  brought  warmth  and  rain  from  the 
east,  was  represented  holding  a  vase  inverted,  as  if  pouring 

% 

rain  from  it.  Lips,  who  from  the  south-east  wafted  home  the 
ships  as  they  neared  the  harbour  of  Peiraeus  at  Athens,  held 
the  ornament  from  a  ship’s  stern  in  her  hands.  Zephyros, 
coming  from  the  warm,  mild  west,  was  lightly  clad,  and  car¬ 
ried  a  quantity  of  flowers  in  his  scarf.  Apeliotes,  the  south¬ 
east  wind,  carried  fruits  of  many  kinds,  wore  boots,  and  was 


EOS,  OR  AURORA:  LUCIFER.  1 65 


not  so  lightly  clad  as  the  last  mentioned.  So  they  were  rep¬ 
resented  on  the  “Tower  of  the  Winds  ”  at  Athens. 

Though  the  winds  were  looked  on  as  each  under  the  control 
of  a  separate  divine  being,  whose  favour  it  was  necessary  to 
retain  by  sacrifice,  no  particular  story  or  myth  is  told  of  any 
one  of  these  persons  excepting  Boreas  and  Zephyros,  the  rival 
lovers  of  Chloris  (Flora),  Zephyros  being  the  successful  suitor. 
Boreas  carried  off,  it  was  said,  Oreithyia,  the  beautiful 
daughter  of  Kekrops,  king  of  Attica;  and  remembering  this, 
the  Athenians  in  their  distress,  when  the  Persians  advanced 
the  first  time  against  Greece,  called  upon  him  for  aid,  which 
he  rendered  by  sending  a  terrible  north  wind,  which  overtook 
the  Persian  fleet  near  the  promontory  of  Athos,  scattering  and 
largely  destroying  it.  From  that  time  the  Athenians  had  an 
altar  to  him,  and  offered  sacrifice  at  it  for  their  preservation. 

The  scene  of  Boreas  carrying  off  Oreithyia  is  represented  on 
a  beautiful  bronze  relief  found  at  Calymna,  and  now  in  the 
British  Museum.  The  wind-god  is  powerful  in  form,  bearded, 
but  still  young,  and  wearing  thick  high  boots,  and  a  mantle 
thrown  across  his  body. 

EOS,  or  AURORA :  LUCIFER. 

Eos  was  a  daughter  of  the  Titan  pair,  Theia  and  Hyperion  ; 
the  latter,  to  judge  from  the  meaning  of  his  name,  having  been 
at  one  time  god  of  the  sun,  “who  travels  high  above  earth.” 
Helios  and  Selene,  the  deities  of  sun  and  moon,  were  her 
brother  and  sister,  while  she  herself  was  a  personification  of 
the  dawn  of  morning.  A  fresh  wind  was  felt  at  her  approach, 
the  morning  star  still  lingered  in  the  sky,  and  ruddy  beams 
“shot  the  orient  through  with  gold”;  and  because  these 


i66 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


beams  appeared  like  outspread  fingers,  she  was  called  “rosy- 
fingered  Morn.”  The  star  and  the  winds  of  the  morning, 
Zephyros,  Boreas,  Notos,  and  Euros,  were  her  offspring 
by  Astrseos,  the  god  of  starlight.  The  moon  and  the  other 
stars  vanished  gradually  as  she  advanced,  but  Helios  followed 
her  closely.  To  poets  she  seemed  to  lift  the  veil  of  night  with 
rose-tinted  fingers,  and  to  rise  in  the  east  out  of  the  ocean  in 
a  car  with  four  white  steeds,  shedding  light  upon  the  earth. 
Others  imagined  her  coming  riding  on  the  winged  horse,  Pe- 
gasos,  which  Zeus  had  given  her  after  Bellerophon’s  failure 
to  ride  on  it  up  to  Olympos. 

She  loved  all  fresh  young  life,  and  showed  special  favour  to 
those  persons  whose  active  spirit  led  them  abroad  in  the 
morning  to  hunt  or  to  make  war.  When  struck  with  the 
beauty  of  a  youth  she  would  carry  him  off,  and  obtain  immor¬ 
tal  life  for  him,  as  she  did  with  Kleitos,  Orion,  Kephalos, 
and  Tithonos.  So  it  appeared  to  the  Greeks,  who  recognised 
in  the  brief  duration  of  the  freshness  and  glow  of  morning  a 
comparison  with  the  early  death  of  promising  and  beautiful 
youth,  and  from  the  comparison  proceeded  to  construct  a 
myth  which  should  trace  both  to  the  same  divine  cause. 

Tithonos  became  her  husband,  and  she  lived  with  him 
pleasantly  beside  the  Okeanos  so  long  as  his  youth  and  beauty 
lasted.  Unfortunately,  in  obtaining  immortality  for  him  from 
Zeus,  she  had  omitted  to  add  to  her  request,  “and  eternal 
youth.”  When  white  hairs  showed  themselves  on  his  head 
she  was  not  the  same  to  him  as  before,  though  still  supplying 
him  with  ambrosia  and  fine  raiment.  But  he  became  quite 
helpless  at  last,  and,  to  avoid  the  sight'  of  his  decrepitude,  she 
shut  him  up  in  a  chamber,'  where  only  his  voice  was  heard  like 
the  chirp  of  a  grasshopper,  into  which  creature,  it  was  said, 


r 


A 


0 


' 


XXVII. 


Eos,  or  Aurora. 


EOS,  OR  AURORA:  LUCIFER. 


167 


he  became  transformed.  By  the  story  of  Tithonos  we  would 
understand  day,  in  its  eternally  returning  course,  fresh  and 
beautiful  at  dawn,  wearied  and  worn  at  the  close. 

Of  Kephalos  it  is  said  that  from  love  to  his  wife,  Prokris, 
he  resolutely  withstood  the  advances  of  Aura,  the  goddess 
of  the  morning  wind,  and  that  the  latter  in  revenge  stirred  up 
discord  between  him  and  his  wife.  Another  version  of  the 
story  is,  that  Aura  caused  him  to  kill  his  wife  by  mistake  when 
out  on  the  chase.  Prokris,  it  would  seem,  jealous  of  her  hus¬ 
band’s  meetings  with  the  goddess,  had  secreted  herself  in  a 
thicket  to  watch  them;  but  happening  to  stir,  Kephalos  caught 
the  noise,  and  suspecting  it  to  be  caused  by  some  lurking 
animal,  hurled  his  spear,  and  slew  his  wife. 

Eos  and  Tithonos  had  two  sons,  Memnon  and  Emathion, 
the  former  widely  celebrated  for  his  beauty,  and  mourned  for 
his  early  death  at  the  hands  of  Achilles.  His  dead  body  was 
carried  by  his  weeping  mother  to  Ethiopia ;  and  at  Thebes, 
in  Egypt,  she  erected  in  his  memory,  so  story  goes,  that 
wonderful  monument  which,  when  the  first  rays  of  the  morn¬ 
ing  sun  touched  it,  gave  forth  a  sound  like  the  snapping 
of  a  harp-string. 

In  art  she  was  represented  as  a  spirited  maiden,  with  large 
wings,  clad  in  robes  of  dazzling  white  and  purple,  a  star  or 
cap  on  her  head,  a  torch  in  her  hand,  and  driving  in  a  chariot 
with  four  horses,  or  riding  on  Pegasos;  at  other  times  she 
appeared  floating  in  the  air,  and  pouring  morning  dew  from  a 
vessel  down  to  the  earth. 

In  Plate  XXVII.  she  is  figured  driving  a  quadriga  with  great 
speed,  as  is  indicated  by  the  flow  of  her  drapery.  The  bulls’ 
heads  signify  that  the  moon  and  stars  are  still  in  the  sky. 
Lucifer  precedes  her  with  a  torch.  Flowers  and  plants,  quick- 


i68 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


ened  by  her  dew,  wake  and  raise  their  heads.  In  the  British 
Museum  is  a  beautiful  example  of  early  gem  engraving,  repre¬ 
senting  a  head  of  her. 

In  other  representations  we  find  Hermes  advancing  before 
her,  a  duty  which  Lucifer,  the  morning  star,  and  a  favourite 
of  Aphrodite  and  Hera  also,  most  usually  performs. 

EROS,  or  AMOR:  PSYCHE. 

Amor,  or  Cupldo,  as  he  was  also  called,  was  not,  it  should 
be  noticed,  a  native  Roman  deity,  but  had  been  introduced 
from  the  mythology  of  the  Greeks  by  poets,  his  name  being 
a  direct  translation  of  the  Greek  Eros.  It  should  further  be 
observed  that  this  translation  presents  an  instance  of  the 
difference  in  character  of  these  two  ancient  races ;  the  word 
for  “love”  among  the  Greeks  being  feminine,  while  its 
Roman  equivalent  was  masculine. 

We  must  at  the  outset  distinguish  the  double  character  of 
Eros;  first,  as  we  find  him  described  taking  part  at  the  crea¬ 
tion  of  the  world  out  of  Chaos,  and  secondly,  as  a  mere  god 
of  love,  a  son  of  Aphrodite  and  Zeus,  or  Ares,  as  some 
said,  or  even  of  Uranos.  In  the  former  phase  of  his  charac¬ 
ter  he  is  represented  as  sorting  the  shapeless  mass  of  the  world, 
with  its  conflicting  elements,  into  order  and  harmony,  dis¬ 
pelling  confusion,  uniting  hitherto  jarring  forces,  and  making 
productive  what  was  barren  before.  In  the  latter  phase  he  is 
the  deity  who  sways  the  passions  of  the  heart  both  of  gods  and 
men.  In  the  one  case  he  was  conceived  as  having  existed 
before  the  other  gods,  as  being  the  god  of  that  love  which 
operates  in  nature ;  and  in  the  other  case  as  the  youngest  born 
of  them  all,  the  god  of  that  love  which  holds  the  hearts 


XXVI 1 1 


Ganymedes. 


Cupid. 


Cupid  and  Psyche. 


Mars  and  Venus. 


EROS,  OR  AMOR  :  PSYCHE. 


169 


of  men  in  tyranny.  It  seems  to  have  been  as  a  combination 
of  both  characters  that  Pheidias*  represented  him  at  the  birth 
of  Aphrodite,  receiving  her  as  she  rose  out  of  the  sea,  in 
presence  of  the  assembled  deities  of  Olympos. 

The  chief  and  oldest  centre  of  his  worship  was  Thespise,  in 
Boeotia,  where  a  festival  called  Erotidia  was  celebrated  in  his 
honour,  and  continued  to  be  a  source  of  attraction  down  to 
Roman  times.  Thence  his  worship  spread  to  Sparta,  Athens, 
Samos,  and  Crete,  the  Spartans  and  Cretans  having  a  custom 
of  sacrificing  to  him  previous  to  the  commencement  of  a  bat¬ 
tle,  in  the  belief  that  he  was  also  the  god  of  that  patriotism  or 
love  of  country  which  best  unites  an  army.  In  Athens  there 
was  an  altar  to  him  and  his  counterpart,  Anteros. 

In  early  times  his  worshippers  at  Thespise  were  content  with 
a  rude  stone  as  an  image.  But  in  later  times,  and  in  contrast 
with  this,  we  find  him  the  most  attractive  figure  among  the 
works  of  the  second  Attic  school  of  sculptors,  the  school  of 
Scopas  and  Praxiteles, f  both  of  whom  directed  their  splendid 
talents  to  adding  fresh  grace  and  beauty  to  his  form.  While 
artists  rivalled  each  other  to  this  end,  poets  were  no  less  zeal¬ 
ous  in  singing  his  praises.  In  daily  life  his  influence  became 
more  generally  acknowledged.  In  the  gymnasia  where  the 
youth  practised  athletics  his  statue  was  set  up  between  Hermes 
and  Herakles ;  for  he  was  then  represented  as  lithe  of  limb 
and  graceful  of  form — a  model  of  ripening  youth.  As  time 
went  on,  however,  his  figure  became  more  and  more  that  of 
the  chubby  boy  who  plays  all  manner  of  tricks  with  the  hearts 
of  men,  with  which  we  are  most  familiar.  He  was  supposed 

*  On  the  base  of  the  statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia. 

f  The  famous  statue  of  him  by  Praxiteles  was  afterwards  carried  off  to 
Rome,  and  is  known  to  us  through  copies  of  it  made  by  other  sculptors. 


170 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


to  exercise  his  influence  over  the  hearts  of  deities  as  well ;  and 
to  show  him  in  this  light,  he  was  represented  at  times  now  with 
the  symbol  of  one  god,  now  of  another. 

To  the  later  age  of  Hellenistic  and  Roman  poetry  and  art 
belongs  the  touching  story  of  Psyche — a  personification, 
as  she  appears  to  have  been,  of  a  soul  filled  with  the  passion  of 
love,  and  as  such  conceived  under  the  form  of  a  small  winged 
maiden,  or,  at  other  times,  as  a  butterfly  which  bore  the  same 
name.  Psyche,  the  story  runs,  was  a  king’s  daughter,  and  most 
beautiful.  The  fame  of  her  beauty  awoke  the  jealousy  of 
Aphrodite,  who  to  get  rid  of  the  rival,  charged  her  son  Cupid 
to  visit  the  princess,  and  inspire  her  with  love  for  some  com¬ 
mon  man.  Cupid  obeyed  so  far  as  to  pay  the  visit,  but  being 
himself  struck  with  the  maiden’s  beauty,  carried  her  off  to  a 
fairy  palace  in  a  vale  of  paradise,  where  they  spent  happy 
hours  together,  with  only  this  drawback,  that  she  was  not  per¬ 
mitted  to  look  upon  her  lover  with  her  mortal  eyes.  Even  this 
she  would  not  have  considered  a  drawback,  had  not  her  en¬ 
vious  sisters  stirred  up  her  curiosity  in  the  matter.  Yielding 
to  their  temptation,  she  took  one  night  a  lamp,  and  stole  into 
the  chamber  where  the  god  lay  asleep.  Alarmed  at  the  dis- 
cover y  she  had  made,  she  let  a  drop  of  hot  oil  fall  upon  his 
shoulder.  He  awoke,  and  charging  her  with  disobedience  to  his 
express  command,  left  her  alone  to  her  despair.  She  searched 
for  him  everywhere  in  vain,  finding  her  way  at  last  to  the 
palace  of  Aphrodite,  who  after  subjecting  her  to  menial  service 
of  various  kinds,  finally  ordered  her  to  go  down  to  the  lower 
world,  and  fetch  a  box  of  beauty’s  ointment  from  Persephone. 
This  most  painful  task  she  accomplished ;  but,  on  opening  the 
box,  sank  overpowered  by  its  odour.  Cupid  could  resist  no 
longer,  ran  to  her  help,  and  brought  her  back  to  life.  The 


EROS,  OR  amor:  psyche. 


171 


anger  of  Aphrodite  was  appeased,  and  the  marriage  of  Cupid 
and  Psyche  was  forthwith  celebrated  with  great  rejoicings,  in 
presence  of  the  higher  gods,  Psyche  obtaining  immortality. 

The  purpose  of  the  story  is  obviously  to  illustrate  the  three 
stages  in  the  existence  of  a  soul, — its  pre-existence  in  a  blessed 
state,  its  existence  on  earth  with  its  trials  and  anguish,  and  its 
future  state  of  happy  immortality. 

Plate  XXVIII.  represents  the  -  two  embracing  tenderly. 
Eros  has  laid  aside  his  bow  and  quiver,  with  its  dangerous 
arrows ;  roses  are  strewn  on  the  ground  before  them,  and  a 
shoot  of  a  rose-tree  grows  behind  to  symbolize  the  sweetness 
and  beauty  of  young  love.  Psyche  has  the  wings  of  a  butterfly, 
and  links  by  which  she  may  be  chained  on  her  ankles  and 
arms.  Behind  her  is  a  mirror.  In  the  other  figure  Eros  ap¬ 
pears  riding  on  a  lion,  and  playing  on  a  lyre,  the  soft  music  of 
which  soothes  the  savage  beast,  as  love  was  supposed  to 
soothe  the  fiercest  temper. 

In  works  of  art  he  is  frequently  to  be  seen  in  company  of 
his  mother  Aphrodite,  or  playing  with  the  Muses  and  Graces, 
or  struggling  with  his  opposite  Anteros,  or  accompanied  by 
Pothos,  whose  name,  like  the  Roman  Cupido,  signifies  a 
“  desire  of  love,”  that  is,  a  “desire  of  union  in  love,”  and 
Himeros,  a  “soft  yearning  for  love.”  In  later  times  artists 
often  surrounded  Aphrodite,  and  occasionally  also  Dionysos, 
with  troops  of  little  winged  figures  of  children,  which  we  call 
Erotes  or  Amorettes. 

The  word  Psyche ,  signifying  originally  the  “soul,”  came 
afterwards  to  mean  also  a  “butterfly,”— a  likeness  being  ob¬ 
served  between  the  manner  in  which  a  soul  and  a  butterfly, 
freed  from  the  body  or  chrysalis  in  which  they  have  been  con¬ 
fined  on  earth,  rise  on  wing,  and  waft  themselves  in  the  light. 


172 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


The  flame  of  love  which  often  scorched  the  soul  was  compared 
with  the  torch  which  attracts  the  butterfly  to  its  doom.  When 
this  happened,  Eros  turned  away  his  face  and  wept.  Such  is 
the  meaning  of  the  allegory  represented  in  Plate  XXIX.  Be¬ 
hind  Eros  stands  Nemesis,  holding  a  twig  from  an  apple- 
tree,  her  customary  attribute,  and  before  him  Elpis,  or  Hope, 
holding  a  lily. 

HYMEN  or  HYMEN^EUS, 

* 

(plate  XXVI.,) 

Was  worshipped  as  the  god  of  marriage  both  by  the  Greeks  and 
the  Romans.  His  origin  is  variously  stated  to  have  been  now 
from  Apollo  and  Kalliope,  now  from  Dionysos  and  Aphrodite, 
while  at  other  times  he  is  said  to  have  been  by  birth  a  mortal, 
and  afterwards  deified.  Properly  speaking,  he  is  a  personifi¬ 
cation  of  the  marriage  song.  There  are  various  accounts  of 
his  life  and  deification,  and  among  them  the  following: 

Young,  and  of  a  soft  delicate  beauty,  so  that  he  might  be 
mistaken  for  a  girl,  Hymen  loved  a  young  Athenian  maiden, 
whom,  however,  because  of  his  poverty,  he  could  not  hope  to 
obtain  for  his  wife.  To  be  near  her,  he  once  joined  a  troop  of 
maidens,  among  whom  she  was  engaged  in  celebrating  a  festival 
to  Demeter  at  Eleusis.  Suddenly  a  band  of  robbers  appeared 
from  a  hiding-place,  carried  the  maidens  off*  to  their  ship,  and 
set  out  with  the  intention  of  selling  them  as  slaves  in  some 
distant  country.  But  landing  on  the  way  on  a  dreary  island, 
the  robbers  indulged  so  copiously  in  wine  that  they  all  fell  into 
deep  slumber.  Hymen,  seizing  the  opportunity,  incited  his 
fellow-captives  to  take  the  weapons  from  the  robbers  and  slay 


THE  GRACES. 


173 


them  all,  which  they  did.  Thereupon  he  set  off  to  Athens  in 
the  ship,  and  finding  the  people  there  in  great  distress,  presented 
himself  to  the  parents  of  the  maiden  he  loved,  and  undertook 
to  bring  her  back  unharmed  on  condition  of  their  giving  her 
to  him  as  his  wife.  This  was  readily  promised.  Finding  a 
crew,  he  at  once  set  sail  for  the  island,  and  speedily  returned 
with  all  the  maidens  on  board.  For  this  he  obtained  the  title 
of  Thalassios,  as  well  as  the  wife  that  had  been  promised  him. 
So  happy  was  his  wedded  life  that  at  marriage  ceremonies 
generally  his  name  was  on  the  lips  of  all  the  company,  and  he 
himself  in  course  of  time  came  to  be  looked  on  as  a  god,  and 
the  founder  and  protector  of  marriage  rights.  At  bridal  fes¬ 
tivities  a  sacrifice  was  offered  to  him,  festal  songs  were  sung, 
and  flowers  and  wreaths  strewn. 

t 

As  a  deity  he  was  placed  among  the  playmates  of  Eros,  and 
in  the  company  of  Aphrodite.  His  home,  it  was  believed, 
was  among  the  Muses  on  Mount  Helikon  in  Bceotia.  There 
is  a  story  which  says  that  he  lost  his  voice  and  his  life  in 
singing  the  marriage  song  of  Dionysos  and  Ariadne  or  Althaea. 
He  is  always  a  picture  of  youthful  beauty,  and  of  the  charms 
of  love  and  song. 

Hymen  was  represented  as  a  beautiful  youth  with  a  mantle 
of  a  golden  colour — sometimes  nude — and  carrying  a  torch,  as 
in  Plate  XXV.,  or  a  veil. 

THE  CHARITES,  or  GRACES, 

Were  looked  upon  by  the  Greeks  as  the  goddesses  of  the  grace¬ 
fulness  and  the  charms  of  beauty,  and  of  cheerful  amusement, 
which  were  observed  both  in  nature  and  in  the  intercourse 
with  men.  As  such,  their  worship  dated  from  a  very  early  time 


i74 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


in  Orchomenos  in  Boeotia,  in  Sparta,  Athens,  and  Crete ;  the 
games  held  in  their  honour  in  the  last-mentioned  place  being 
said  to  have  existed  even  in  the  time  of  theipre-historic  king 
Minos.  Their  oldest  sanctuary  was  said  to  be  that  at  Orcho¬ 
menos.  It  contained  images  of  them  in  the  form  of  rude 
stones  which  were  supposed  to  have  fallen  from  heaven. 

The  manifold  beauty  which  the  works  of  nature,  especially 
in  spring-time,  display,  would  seem  to  have  given  rise  in  very 
early  times  to  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  certain  goddesses  at 
first  simply  as  guardians  of  the  vernal  sweetness  and  beauty 
of  nature,  and  afterwards  as  the  friends  and  protectors  of 
everything  graceful  and  beautiful — an  idea  which  the  poets 
further  developed.  Pindar,  in  one  of  his  most  delightful 
songs  of  victory,  singing  of  the  Graces,  associates  with  them 
the  source  of  decorum,  of  purity  and  happiness  in  life,  of  good 
will,  beneficence  and  gratitude  among  men. 

They  were  represented  as  beautiful  young  modest  maidens, 
winning  and  charming,  always  dancing,  singing,  and  running, 
or  bathing  in  fountains,  or  decking  themselves  with  early  flow- 

i 

ers,  especially  with  roses ;  for  the  rose  was  sacred  to  them,  as 
well  as  to  Aphrodite  (Venus),  in  whose  company,  and  doing 
her  many  a  service,  according  to  the  myth,  they  were  usually 
to  be  found.  Their  home  was  among  the  Muses  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Olympos,  where  they  often  appeared  as  com¬ 
panions  of  Aphrodite,  and  danced  before  the  other  deities. 

Their  origin  is  variously  stated, — now  Zeus  and  Eurynome, 
an  Okeanid,  being  assigned  as  their  parents,  now  Dionysos 
and  Aphrodite.  There  is  a  difference  also  in  the  statements  of 
their  names  and  number.  From  Orchomenos,  it  would  seem, 
come  Aglaea,  Euphrosyne,  and  Thalia.  In  Sparta  and  in 
Athens  there  were  only  two,  the  pair  worshipped  in  the  former 


THE  GRACES. 


175 


t 


town  being  called  Kleta  (clang)  and  Phaenna  (glimmer), 
in  the  latter  town,  Auxo  and  Hegemone.  In  the  Iliad  a 
whole  race  of  them  is  mentioned,  old  and  young — the  youngest 
being  Pasithea.  According  to  another  account,  the  youngest 
was  Aglaea,  the  wife  of  Hephaestos ;  the  object  in  assigning 
him  such  a  wife  being  probably  to  indicate  the  perfect  beauty 
of  the  works  of  art  produced  by  that  god.  Beauty  and  sweet¬ 
ness,  the  best  charm  of  poetry,  came  from  the  Graces.  Athene 
(Minerva)  called  in  their  aid  in  the  serious  business  of  life 
over  which  she  presided,  because  without  gracefulness  all 
labour  was  in  vain,  the  Greeks  believed.  They  assisted 
Hermes  (Mercury)  in  his  capacity  of  god  of  oratory.  From 
these  instances  of  their  activity  it  will  be  seen  how  highly  the 
Greeks  prized  this  quality  of  gracefulness. 

In  Greece  there  was  a  number  of  temples  and  beautiful 
groups  of  statuary  in  their  honour,  sometimes  devoted  to  them 
alone,  sometimes  to  them  in  common  with  other  deities ;  as, 
for  example,  Aphrodite,  Apollo,  and  the  Muses.  Annual 
festivals,  called  Charitesia,  accompanied  with  games,  music, 
and  dance,  were  held  in  their  honour.  It  was  the  custom  also 
to  call  upon  them  in  taking  an  oath,  and  at  banquets  the  first 
cup  of  wine  was  offered  to  them. 

In  early  times  they  were  represented  in  art  as  draped  figures, 
but  in  later  times  as  quite  nude,  or  but  sparingly  clothed,  and 
occupied  in  a  dance.  Their  attributes  were  the  rose,  the 
myrtle,  and  dice,  as  a  symbol  of  cheerful  amusement.  At 
other  times  they  hold  apples  or  perfume-vases,  or  ears  of  corn, 
or  heads  of  poppies,  or  musical  instruments — such  as  the  lyre, 
flute,,,  and  syrinx,  t 


176 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


PEITHO,  OR  SUADA, 

Or  Suadela,  was  the  goddess  of  persuasion,  and  like  the 
Graces,  formed  part  of  the  escort  of  Aphrodite,  whose  daughter 
she  was  said  to  be. 

Her  worship,  along  with  Aphrodite,  was  introduced  into 
Athens  by  Theseus,  at  the  time  when  he  succeeded  in  per¬ 
suading  the  various  isolated  tribes  inhabiting  Attica  to  unite 
into  one  people,  with  Athens  as  their  chief  town.  But  she 
had  temples  in  other  places  also,  and  was  looked  on  as  a  deity 
to  whose  influence  much  was  due. 

HEBE, 

(plate  XXVI.,) 

Or  Ganymeda,  or  Dia,  as  she  was  called  in  the  vine-growing 
district  of  Phlius,  where  she  was  worshipped  as  the  principal 

* 

deity,  was  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Hera,  and  was  the  goddess 
of  youth,  herself  remaining  always  young,  and  warding  off  age, 
like  the  other  deities,  by  means  of  nectar  and  ambrosia.  Her 
name  among  the  Romans  was  Juventas.  In  Olympos  she 
held  the  office  of  cup-bearer  to  the  gods,  for  which  it  is  sup¬ 
posed  that  she  was  peculiarly  adapted,  first,  because  of  her 
association  with  the  vine-growers  of  Phlius,  and,  secondly, 
because  she  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  regal  pair  of 
Olympos,  and  as  such,  on  the  analogy  of  human  arrangements, 
would  be  expected  to  wait  upon  the  divine  guests,  as  Briseis 
did  on  Achilles,  or  Hippodameia  on  Oenomaos  or  as,  in  real 
life,  Melissa,  the  daughter  of  Prokles,  king  of  Epidauros, 
poured  out  wine  for  her  father’s  men  with  a  grace  which  cap- 


HEBE. 


177 


tivated  Periander.  The  difficulty  of  explaining  how  Hebe  and 
Ganymedes  would  both  hold  the  same  office  was  met  in  various 
ways,  of  which  one  was  to  assume  her  to  have  been  cup-bearer 
in  general  and  him  cup-bearer  to  Zeus  in  particular,  while 
another  ingeniously  supposed  that  Hebe  only  held  the  office 
while  Ganymedes  was  absent  from  Olympos  during  the  Trojan 
war,  so  as  to  avoid  witnessing  the  misfortunes  of  his  native 
country.  Among  her  other  duties  she  had  to  assist  Hera  to 
yoke  her  car.  When  Apollo  and  the  Muses  played  she  danced 
with  other  deities.  At  times  she  accompanied  Aphrodite. 
But  the  character  in  which  she  was  best  known  and  most  ad¬ 
mired  was  that  of  the  bride  and  wife  of  Herakles,  when  he 
was  raised  to  Olympos  in  reward  for  his  extraordinary  labours 
on  earth.  This  union  of  Hebe,  the  favourite  daughter  of 
Hera,  with  Herakles,  whom  she  had  constantly  persecuted 
while  on  earth,  is  unknown  to  the  Iliad.  The  character  of 
the  myth,  however,  appears  to  point  to  a  very  early  origin. 
The  singular  climax  of  events,  which  made  Herakles  the  guest 
of  the  gods  of  Olympos  and  the  husband  of  the  most  attrac- 
tive  of  the  goddesses,  was  a  subject  which  was  made  the  most 
of  by  the  comic  poets.  Representations  of  the  marriage  pro¬ 
cession,  and  of  Herakles  receiving  a  cup  of  wine  from  Hebe, 
occur  in  ancient  sculpture.  In  other  cases  she  appears  in  the 
company  of  her  mother  Hera,  or  alone,  or  in  the  character  of 
Ganymeda,  fondling  the  eagle  of  Zeus,  or  giving  it  drink 
from  a  cup,  as  occurs  not  unfrequently  on  engraved  gems. 

At  the  town  of  Phlius,  in  the  district  of  Argolis,  there  was, 
in  a  fine  grove,  a  celebrated  temple  in  her  honour,  which 
served  as  a  place  of  refuge  or  asylum,  in  which  slaves  who 
had  been  set  free  hung  up  their  chains  among  the  cypresses 

sacred  to  the  goddess. 

12 


i73 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


In  Rome  Juventas  had  two  sanctuaries,  one  on  the  Capitol, 
the  other  beside  the  great  race-course.  It  was  the  custom — 
dating,  it  was  said,  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Servius  Tullius — 
to  pay  into  the  temple  of  Juventas  a  piece  of  money  for  every 
boy  who  lived  to  enter  the  stage  of  youth.  When  the  young 
Roman  assumed  the  toga  virilis ,  he  went  up  to  the  Capitol 
and  prayed  to  Jupiter  and  Juventas.  At  the  beginning  of 
every  year  sacrifice  was  offered  to  both  deities  in  behalf  of  the 
youth  of  the  city. 


GANYMEDES, 

(plate  XXVIII.,) 

Was  a  son  of  the  Trojan  king  Tros  and  Kallirhoe,  and  was 
therefore  great-grandson  of  Dardanos,  the  founder  of  Troy. 
Zeus  finding  him  on  Mount  Ida,  and  admiring  his  beauty, 
carried  him  off  to  Olympos,  where  he  appears  to  have  suc¬ 
ceeded  Hebe  in  the  office  of  cup-bearer  to  the  gods. 

He  was  represented  as  possessed  of  eternal  youth  and 
extraordinary  beauty,  wearing  a  Phrygian  cap  to  indicate  his 
birth-place.  The  cup  in  his  hand  indicates  his  office  of  cup¬ 
bearer,  while  the  eagle  of  Zeus  by  his  side  shows  that  that 
office  was  performed  among  the  gods  of  Olympos. 

ASKLEPIOS,  or  AESCULAPIUS, 

(plate  xxxi.,) 

Was,  according  to  the  «iost  common  version  of  the  myth,  a 
son  of  Apollo  and  Koronis,  a  daughter  of  a  Thessalian  prince, 
— whence  his  title  Koronides.  At  his  birth  his  mother  died, 
struck  by  the  arrows  of  Artemis ;  but  the  father  saved  the  child, 


ASKLEPIOS,  OR  iESCULAPIUS. 


179 


and  taking  it  to  Mount  Pelion,  gave  it  in  keeping  to  the  famous 
physician,  Chiron,  who  carefully  instructed  the  boy  from 
early  youth  onwards  in  the  mysteries  of  the  healing  art,  train¬ 
ing  him  at  the  same  time  to  expertness  in  the  chase.  In  the 
former  the  pupil  soon  excelled  the  master,  curing  the  most 
malignant  diseases,  and  working  real  miracles  with  his  art. 
There  was  but  one  whom  his  success  could  injure,  and  that  was 
Pluto,  the  monarch  of  the  lower  world,  who  urged  his  com¬ 
plaint  before  Zeus.  The  latter,  astonished  at  the  boldness  of 
a  mortal  in  thus  defying  the  decrees  of  fate,  felled  the  great 
doctor  with  a  thunderbolt,  to  the  indignation  of  Apollo,  who 
was  only  silenced  by  banishment  from  Olympos  for  some  time. 
After  his  death  Asklepios  was  looked  upon  as  a  god  in  Greece ; 
festivals  called  Asklepia  were  held  in  his  honour,  and  tem¬ 
ples  were  erected  to  him,  of  which  the  most  celebrated  was 
that  of  Epidauros,  in  the  Peloponnesos.  Thither  even  the 
Romans  sent  ten  deputies  once,  to  inquire  the  will  of  the  ora¬ 
cle  with  regard  to  a  pestilence  that  was  raging  in  Rome.  The 
deputies  had  hardly  entered  the  temple,  when  from  behind 
the  gold-and-ivory  statue  of  the  god  a  serpent  appeared,  the 
symbol  of  Asklepios,  and  followed  them  through  the  streets 
of  the  town,  on  to  the  harbour,  and  into  their  ship.  They 
received  it  joyfully  as  a  happy  portent,  and  set  out  homewards. 
On  reaching  Italy  the  serpent  left  the  ship,  and  proceeded  to 
a  temple  of  ZEsculapius,  in  the  town  of  Antium,  but  afterwards 
returned  to  the  ship,  and  did  not  leave  it  again  until,  on 
going  up  the  Tiber,  it  stopped  at  an  island.  Thereupon  the 
pestilence  ceased,  and  the  temple  was  erected  on  the  island  to 
ZEsculapius,  to  commemorate  the  event.  Thither  patients  were 
conveyed  and  cured — a  short  statement  of  the  symptoms  of 
each  case,  and  the  remedy  employed,  being  inscribed  on 


i  So 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


tablets,  which  were  hung  up  in  the  temple,  and  were  found  to 
be  a  great  boon  to  posterity. 

Besides  the  serpent,  he  frequently  has  as  an  attribute  a  cock, 
— that  animal  being  also  sacred  to  him.  The  serpent,  by  its 
periodic  change  of  skin,  indicates  rejuvenescence;  the  staff 
marks  him  as  wandering  from  place  to  place,  to  give  help ; 
while  the  dish,  which  he  sometimes  holds,  is  a  symbol  of  his 
healing  potions.  It  was  the  custom  of  invalids  to  sacrifice  a 
cock  to  him,  as  Socrates  did  after  drinking  the  cup  of  poison, 
as  a  token  that  he  did  not  fear  death,  but  rather  looked  upon 
it  as  a  cure  and  a  convalescence. 

Among  the  children  of  ZEsculapius,  Hygiea  is  specially 
mentioned.  The  name  of  his  wife  was  Epigone — “  the 
soothing.”  Like  many  other  deities  of  the  lower  order,  in 
common  with  heroes,  he  was  in  after  times  placed  as  a  star  in 
the  sky. 

In  Plate  XXXI.  the  god  of  medicine  is  represented  as  a  man 
of  years,  bearded,  gentle,  and  earnest,  draped,  and  resting  on  a 
staff,  round  which  a  serpent,  as  emblem  of  rejuvenescence,  is 
coiled.  His  type  of  face  resembles  that  of  Zeus  so  much,  that 
in  the  case  of  the  fine  marble  head  in  the  British  Museum 
absolute  agreement  has  not  yet  been  arrived  at  as  to  which  of 
the  two  gods  it  was  intended  to  represent.  The  head  in 
question  was  found  in  the  island  of  Melos,  on  the  site  of  what 
is  supposed  to  have  been  a  temple  to  Asklepios,  from  the  dis¬ 
covery  in  the  same  place  of  a  native  tablet,  dedicated  to  the 
god  and  to  his  daughter  Hygiea.  A  person  who  had  recovered 
from  a  local  illness  would  dedicate  a  sculptured  representation 
of  the  part  that  had  been  affected.  Of  such  sculptures  there 
are  a  number  of  examples  in  the  British  Museum. 


HYGIEA. - MEDITRINA. - TELESPHOROS. 


181 


HYGIEA, 

(plate  XXXI.,) 

Or  Hygieia,  or  Hygea,  was,  as  we  have  just  said,  the 
daughter  of  Asklepios,  and  the  goddess  of  health.  Others 
said  she  was  the  wife  of  Asklepios. 

She  was  represented  as  a  young,  active,  smiling  goddess,  in 
whom  Apollo  took  a  special  interest.  In  Plate  XXXI.  she 
appears  draped,  and  holding  a  serpent — which,  as  in  the  case 
of  Asklepios,  is  the  symbol  of  health.  She  feeds  it  from  a 
plate  or  patera. 

At  other  times  she  is  figured  wearing  a  wreath  of  laurel,  or 
of  plants  known  for  their  medicinal  properties — a  patera  in 
her  hand,  a  serpent  coiled  round  her  arm  or  body. 

MEDITRINA 

Passed  in  Rome  for  a  sister  of  Hygea  and  a  goddess  of  health, 
a  festival  called  Meditrinalia  being  annually  held  in  her 
honour  at  the  beginning  of  October,  the  ceremony  consisting 
in  drinking  some  old  and  some  new  wine  together,  and  ex¬ 
claiming,  “  I  drink  the  new  and  the  old  wine — with  new  and 
old  wine  I  heal  infirmities.’ ’ 

The  distinction  between  the  two  goddesses  of  health  lay  in 
this — that  while  Hygea  preserved  good  health,  Meditrina 
restored  it.  The  Greek  goddess  Jaso  appears  to  have  been 
identical  with  Meditrina. 

TELESPHOROS 

Was  looked  upon  as  a  genius  or  deity  of  that  secret  and  mys¬ 
terious  vitality  which  sustains  the  convalescent.  He  was  re- 


182 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


presented  (Plate  XXXI.)  by  the  side  of  ZEsculapius,  or  stand¬ 
ing  between  him  and  Hygea,  as  a  small  barefooted  boy, 
wrapped  closely  in  a  mantle,  with  a  hood  on  his  head.  This 
careful  wrapping-up  seems  to  indicate  the  secret  shrouded 
nature  of  the  vital  force  which  he  personifies,  and  may  also 
have  been  meant  to  express  the  care  in  wrapping-up  so  essen¬ 
tial  to  convalescence. 

The  principal  centre  of  his  worship  was  on  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor. 

TYCHE,  or  FORTUNA.  * 

(PLATE- XXI.) 

The  idea  that  a  great  part  of  the  incidents  and  circumstances 
of  life  was  due  to  chance,  had  taken  hold  of  the  mind  in  very 
early  times,  and  had  come  to  be  personified  in  the  form  of  a 
goddess  of  luck,  whom  the  Greeks  called  Tyche  and  the 
Romans  Fortuna.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Zeus.  The  Parcae, 
or  Fates,  were  her  sisters.  It  was  believed  that  she  guided 
the  career  of  men,  whether  prosperously  or  the  reverse ;  and 
to  show  her  in  this  capacity,  she  was  figured  holding  a  double 
rudder  in  her  hands — the  one  to  steer  the  barque  of  the  lucky, 
the  other  that  of  the  unlucky.  In  later  times  she  was  repre¬ 
sented  with  wings,  or  with  her  eyes  bound,  standing  on  a  ball 
or  a  wheel,  to  indicate  that  luck  rolls  like  a  ball,  without  choice, 
undoing  all  the  efforts  of  this  one,  and  overwhelming  that  one 
jvith  wealth  and  prosperity.  Sometimes  she  was  represented 
with  a  ball  on  her  head,  or  with  a  cornucopia  in  her  hands. 

In  Plate  XXI.  she  appears  draped,  her  arms  bare,  a  horn  of 
plenty  in  one  hand  and  a  rudder  in  the  other, — the  ball  be¬ 
side  the  rudder  indicating  the  rapid  turns  of  fortune. 


t 


t 


Nike,  or  Victoria. 


NIKE,  OR  VICTORIA. 


183 


Tyche  was  worshipped  in  many  places  in  Greece,  but  espe¬ 
cially  at  Athens,  where  she  was  popularly  believed  to  reside 
constantly  as  a  favouring  deity.  In  Italy  the  worship  of  For- 
tuna  was  wide-spread,  and  a  general  festival  held  in  her  honour 
annually  on  the  24th  of  June.  Her  principal  worshippers, 
however,  were  newly-married  women.  She  had  an  oracle  of 
considerable  fame  in  the  towns  of  Prseneste  and  Antium. 


NIKE,  or  VICTORIA, 

(plate  XXX.,) 

The  goddess  of  victory,  was  a  daughter  of  the  giant  Pallas  and 
the  Okeanid  nymph  Styx,  and  was  regarded  by  the  Greeks 
as  inseparable  from  Zeus  and  Athene.  Except  in  works  of 
art  of  an  early  period,  she  was  represented  with  wings.  Her 
attributes  were  a  palm-branch,  a  wreath,  and  a  trophy  of  ar¬ 
mour.  Sometimes  she  carried  a  staff  ( ' caduceus )  like  that  of 
Hermes,  as  a  sign  of  her  power,  and  floated  in  the  air  with 
outspread  wings,  or  appeared  coming  down  to  earth — now 
pointing  the  way  to  a  victor,  now  reaching  a  wreath  down  to 
his  brow,  or  driving  his  horses.  As  goddess  of  victories  by 
sea,  suitable  emblems  were  assigned  to  her. 

In  Plate  XXX.  she  appears  standing  on  a  globe,  draped, 
winged,  holding  a  wreath  and  a  palm-branch.  On  coins  ap¬ 
parently  struck  to  commemorate  victories,  or,  as  it  sometimes 
happened,  success  in  the  national  games, — on  engraved  gems, 
sculptures, — figures  of  Nike  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  She 
is  also  draped,  and  of  a  youthful  appearance  :  a  favourite  sub¬ 
ject,  to  judge  from  the  repetition  of  it  on  gems,  seems  to  have 


184 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


been  that  in  which  she  was  represented  in  the  act  of  sacrificing 
an  ox. 


EIRENE  or  PAX, 

>  s 

The  goddess  of  peace,  was  also  represented  holding  a  palm- 
branch.  At  other  times  she  stood  with  armour  under  her  feet, 
or  was  engaged  in  closing  the  temple  of  Janus.  In  Greece  she 
was  reckoned  one  of  the  Horae — the  most  cheerful,  indeed,  of 
the  three  sisters.  In  Rome  she  had  a  temple,  and  enjoyed  the 
honour  of  an  annual  festival  on  the  30th  of  January. 

FATE, 

The  Greek  name  being  Ananke,  the  Roman  Fatum,  was  a 
personification  of  the  unalterable  necessity  that  appeared  to 
control  the  career  of  mankind  and  the  events  of  the  world. 
Gods,  as  well  as  men,  were  subject  to  its  unchanging  decrees. 
This  deity  was  the  offspring  of  Night  and  Erebos.  Her  sen¬ 
tences  were  carried  out  by  the  Parcse,  who,  however,  were  also 
looked  upon  as  independent  deities  of  fate.  She  was  repre¬ 
sented  standing  on  a  globe,  and  holding  an  urn. 

MCERA  and  the  MOER^E,  or  PARCvE. 

In  very  early  times  the  management  of  the  world  in  regard  to 
social  matters  involving  right  and  reason,  was  supposed  to  be 
directly  under  the  control  of  a  goddess  called  Moera,  who,  in 
her  own  province,  acknowledged  the  superiority  of  no  other 
deity,  not  even  of  Zeus,  the  ruler  of  the  world,  who,  as  supreme 
god,  could  not  be  thought  to  insist  on  anything  unreasonable 
or  wrong.  In  later  times  we  find,  instead  of  this  single  deity, 


XXXI. 


Hygiea.  iEsculapius. 


. 


MGERA  AND  THE  MCERJE,  OR  PARC^E. 


185 


three  Moerae  (or  Parcae)  answering  respectively  to  the  three 
stages  of  human  life — birth,  years,  and  death.  In  this  form, 
however,  they  no  longer  retained- the  high  position  of  superi¬ 
ority  to  Zeus,  but,  like  the  other  deities,  became  subject  to 
him,  thus  showing  that  he  possessed  in  its  highest  form  the 
consciousness  of  right  and  reason,  and  was  entitled  to  be 
called  Mceragetes,  or  leader  of  the  Moerae. 

They  were  described  as  daughters  of  Night — to  indicate  the 
darkness  and  obscurity  of  human  fate — or  of  Zeus  and  Themis, 
that  is,  “daughters  of  the  just  heavens.”  Another  story  has 
it,  that  it  was  they  who  united  Themis  and  Zeus  in  marriage, 
the  same  ceremony,  according  to  another  version  of  the  myth, 
having  been  performed  by  them  to  Zeus  and  Hera.  '  It  was 
natural  to  suppose  the  goddesses  of  fate  present  and  taking 

part  at  marriages  and  births. 

% 

The  names  of  the  three  sisters  were  Klotho,  Lachesis,  and 
Atropos.  To  express  the  influence  which  they  were  believed 
to  exercise  on  human  life  from  birth  to  death,  they  were  con¬ 
ceived  as  occupied  in  spinning  a  thread  of  gold,  silver,  or  wool ; 
now  tightening,  now  slackening,  and  at  last  cutting  it  off. 
This  occupation  was  so  arranged  among  the  three,  that  Klotho, 
the  youngest,  put  the  wool  round  the  spindle,  Lachesis  spun  it, 
and  Atropos,  the  eldest,  cut  it  off,  when  a  man  had  to  die. 
Tyche,  or  Fortuna,  has  been  taken  as  a  fourth  sister,  on  account 
of  the  similarity  of  her  functions.  It  is  not,  however,  so. 

They  were  represented  in  art  as  serious  maidens,  always  side 
by  side,  and  in  most  cases  occupied  as  we  have  mentioned ; 
there  being  instances,  however,  in  which  Atropos,  the  ‘  unal¬ 
terable/  is  represented  alone. 

They  were  worshipped  very  seriously  both  in  Greece  and 
Italy :  sacrifices  of  honey  and  flowers,  sometimes  of  ewes,  were 


1 86 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


offered  to  them,  while  in  Sparta  and  in  Rome  they  had  tem¬ 
ples  and  altars. 

NEMESIS, 

Called  also  Adrasteia  and  Rhamnusia,  from  Rhamnus  in 
Attica,  the  principal  centre  of  her  worship,  was  a  personifica¬ 
tion  of  the  vengeance  which  appeared  to  overtake  every  act  of 
wrong.  She  was  the  goddess  of  punishment,  and  as  such  a 
figure  of  her  was  placed  beside  the  bench  of  the  judges.  A 
mysterious  power,  watching  over  the  propriety  of  life,  she  was 
conceived  as  shaping  the  demeanour  of  men  in  their  times  of 
prosperity,  punishing  crime,  taking  luck  away  from  the  un¬ 
worthy,  tracking  every  wrong  to  its  doer,  and  keeping  society 
in  equipoise.  She  was  represented  as  a  thoughtful,  beautiful 
figure  of  queenly  aspect,  with  a  diadem  or  crown  on  her  head, 
winged,  except  in  the  case  of  early  sculptures,  or  driving  in  a 
car  drawn  by  gryphons.  Among  her  several  attributes  were  a 
wheel,  to  indicate  the  speed  of  her  punishments,  a  balance,  a 
bridle,  a  yoke,  a  rudder,  a  lash,  a  sword,  and  an  apple-branch. 
Special  festivals,  called  Nemesia,  accompanied  by  public 
sacrifices  to  assure  her  good  will,  were  held  annually  in  Athens 
and  in  Smyrna. 

Now  Erebos,  nowOkeanos,  is  mentioned  as  her  father,  while 
Zeus  is  said  to  have  been  her  lover,  and  Helena  their  daughter. 

To  execute  her  commands  she  had  three  attendants,  Dike, 
Poena,  and  Erinys  (respectively  justice,  punishment,  and 
vengeance).  She  was  a  terror  to  evil-doers.  At  the  same  time 
her  endeavours  to  preserve  an  equal  balance  in  the  attitude  of 
man  to  man  were  recognized  as  springing  from  a  deep-seated 
love,  and  therefore  she  was  placed  beside  the  Graces.  In 
Smyrna  several  winged  beings  of  her  type  were  worshipped.  £ 


ERIS - ENYO. 


187 


ERIS, 

Called  by  the  Romans  Discordia,  the  goddess  of  strife,  was 
employed  by  the  other  gods  to  stir  up  fierce  disputes  and 
mortal  quarrels  among  men.  It  was  she  who  caused  the  dis¬ 
pute  between  Hera,  Athene,  and  Aphrodite  for  the  possession 
of  the  golden  apple,  the  prize  of  beauty,  which  she  threw 
among  the  company  assembled  at  the  marriage  of  Peleus. 

Terrible  in  form  and  aspect,  with  attributes  like  those  of  the 
Eumenides,  with  whom  her  home  was  in  the  realms  below, 
she  was  looked  on  as  the  sister  and  companion,  sometimes  as 
the  wife,  of  Ares,  the  god  of  massacre.  Her  daughter  was 

ENYO, 

Whom  the  Romans  called  Bellona,  now  believing  her  to  be 
the  wife  and  now  the  sister  of  Mars.  Similarly  among  the 
Greeks,  Enyo,  the  murderous  goddess  of  war,  delighting  in 
devastation,  was  associated  with  Ares,  who  also  bore  the  title 
of  Eny alios,  either  driving  his  chariot  or  rushing  in  front 
of  it  to  battle.  The  peculiar  fierceness  and  fury  with  which 
she  spread  terror  and  alarm  in  a  battle  distinguished  her  from 
Pallas-Athene.  She  was  represented  as  of  frightful  aspect, 
with  flowing  hair,  rushing  wildly  hither  and  thither,  with  a 
lash  in  her  hand,  and  armed  with  shield  and  spear.  Her 
most  celebrated  temple  was  that  at  Komana,  in  Asia  Minor. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  against  the  Samnites  a  temple  was 
erected  to  her  in  Rome  by  Appius  Claudius.  There  the 
Senate  used  to  meet  when  they  had  to  deliberate  with  an  em¬ 
bassy  from  a  hostile  power,  or  when  they  had  to  decide 
whether  the  honour  of  a  triumphal  entry  into  the  city  should 


i88 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


be  bestowed  upon  a  general.  At  the  entrance  to  the  temple 
stood  a  pillar,  which,  on  the  occasion  of  declaring  war,  was 
viewed  as  marking  the  boundary  between  Roman  and  hostile 
territory.  The  ceremony  of  declaring  war  was  to  throw  a 
spear  over  this  pillar — that  is,  into  the  territory  of  the  enemy. 
There  festivals  of  din  and  wild  excitement  were  held  in  her 
honour.  Her  priests  were  styled  Bellonarii. 

PHEME,  or  FAMX 

The  goddess  of  fame  or  report,  whether  good  or  bad,  was  said 
to  be  a  daughter  of  Gaea,  and  born  at  the  time  of  her  great 
indignation  at  the  overthrow  of  the  Giants.  Sleepless,  always 
prying,  swift  of  foot,  Pheme  announced  whatever  she  saw  or 
heard  of,  at  first  in  a  whisper  addressed  only  to  a  few  persons, 
then  by  degrees  louder  and  to  a  larger  circle,  until  finally  she 
had  traversed  heaven  and  earth  communicating  it.  She  was 
represented  as  a  tender,  gentle  figure,  -winged,  and  holding  a 
trumpet. 

ATE 

Was  the  goddess  of  infatuation,  mischief,  and  guilt,  misleading 
men  to  actions  that  involved  them  in  ruin.  For  this  her 
father,  Zeus,  cast  her  in  anger  from  Olympos,  and  from  that  time 
she  wandered  about  the  earth  in  search  of  victims  to  her 
malignant  influence.  She  was  spoken  of  as  powerful  in  person 
and  swift  of  foot,  running  before  men  to  mislead  them.  Her 
sisters  were  the 


LIT^E, 

Sweet-natured  goddesses,  whose  special  duty  was  to  recom¬ 
pense  the  persons  whom  Ate  had  reduced  to  distress  and  ruin. 


, 


' 


. 


\ 


. 


XXIX 


One  of  tlie  Erinys. 


THE  ERINYS,  OR  FURLE. 


189 


Their  name  signifies  “prayers  of  the  penitent,”  and  the 
allegory  in  this  case  is  not  far  to  seek.  Prayers  atone  and 
make  amends  for  what  a  man  does  to  the  harm  of  others  in 
thoughtlessness  or  from  infatuation,  without  wicked  thought 
or  design.  In  the  Homeric  poems  they  are  described  as  lame, 
wrinkled,  and  squinting — those  deformities  being  caused  by 
the  trouble  they  had  in  making  good  the  harm  done  by  Ate. 
Penitent  prayers  were  at  best  but  sorry  aid  in  making  good 
the  evil  done  from  infatuation  or  carelessness. 

The  Litae  were  supposed  to  be  daughters  of  Zeus,  and  to 
place  before  him  the  prayers  of  those  who  invoked  his  as¬ 
sistance. 


THE  ERINYS,  or  FURLE, 

(plate  XXIX.,) 

Called  also  Dirae,  Eumenides,  or  Semnae — that  is,  the 
“revered  ’  ’  goddesses,  were  daughters  of  Night,  or,  according  to 
another  myth,  of  the  Earth  and  Darkness,  while  a  third  account 
calls  them  offspring  of  Kronos  and  Eurynome.  They  were 
attendants  of  Hades  and  Persephone,  and  lived  at  the  entrance 
to  the  lower  world.  Their  first  duty  was  to  see  to  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  those  of  the  departed  who,  having  been  guilty  of  some 
crime  on  earth,  had  come  down  to  the  shades  without  obtain¬ 
ing  atonement  from  the  gods.  At  the  command  of  the  higher 
gods,  sometimes  of  Nemesis,  they  appeared  on  earth  pursuing 
criminals.  Nothing  escaped  their  sharp  eyes  as  they  followed 
the  evil-doer  with  speed  and  fury,  permitting  him  no  rest. 

A  sad  instance  of  this  is  the  story  of  Orestes,  the  son  of 
Agamemnon,  who  slew  his  mother,  Klytsemnestra,  to 
avenge  his  father’s  death.  The  atrocity  of  the  crime  committed 


190 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


by  Klytaemnestra  was  held  by  Zeus  and  Apollo  to  be  no  excuse 
for  the  act  of  Orestes,  and  accordingly  he  was  subjected  to  the 
long  and  cruel  pursuit  of  the  Furies,  from  which  he  was  at 
length  freed  by  bringing,  on  the  advice  of  an  oracle  of  Apollo, 
an  image  of  Artemis  from  Tauros  to  Argos. 

In  Plate  XXIX.  is  represented  one  of  the  Erinys  pursuing 
Orestes ;  the  face  reflected  on  the  mirror  which  she  holds  is 
perhaps  that  of  Klytaemnestra. 

The  number  of  the  Erinys,  varying  in  early  times,  was  after¬ 
wards  fixed  to  three:  Tisiphone  (the  avenger  of  murder), 
Alekto(the  unwearied  persecutor),  and  Megsera  (the  grim). 
They  were  represented  as  female  figures  of  odious  aspect,  clad 
in  black,  sometimes  winged,  with  hair  formed  of  vipers,  and 
carrying  a  serpent,  a  knife,  or  a  torch  in  their  hands.  In  time 
this  grim  conception  of  them  fell  away,  and  they  came  to  be 
represented  as  beautiful  serious  maidens,  clad  something  like 
Artemis.  As  divine  beings,  whose  office  it  was  to  punish 
neglect  of  duty,  breach  of  faith,  and  crimes  committed  against 
parents,  they  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  aiding  the  preserva¬ 
tion  of  a  high  morality,  and  were  called  Eumenides,  or  the 
“well-mmded  goddesses.”  When  sacrifices  were  offered  to 
them,  the  place  chosen  for  the  occasion  was  of  a  wild  charac¬ 
ter,  the  time  night,  and  the  animals  sacrificed,  black.  In 
Greece  there  were  several  temples  and  solemn  groves  dedica¬ 
ted  to  them — as,  for  example,  at  Colonos,  close  by  Athens. 

THE  HARPYS, 

Also  were  creatures  employed,  according  to  the  belief  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  by  the  higher  gods  to  carry  out  the 
punishment  of  crime.  They  were  three  in  number :  Aello, 


THE  GORGONS. 


I9I 


Okypete,  and  Kelseno,  or  Podarge  ;  and  were  said  to  be 
daughters  of  the  giant  Thaumas  and  the  Okeanid  nymph 
Elektra.  Their  body  was  that  of  a  bird,  their  head  that  of 
a  woman ;  and  it  would  seem  that  they  were  originally  god¬ 
desses  of  the  storm, which  carries  everything  along  with  it. 

Their  manner  of  punishing  those  whom  they  were  sent  to 
.  punish  was  to  carry  off  all  the  food  set  before  their  victim,  and 
devour  it,  or  failing  that,  to  render  it  uneatable.  Among  others 
who  were  punished  in  this  way  was  Phineus,  a  king  of 
Thrace,  his  crime  having  been  cruelty  towards  his  own  son  and 
contempt  of  the  gods.  For  showing  the  Argonauts  the  way 
to  Kolchis  he  was,  however,  freed  from  their  persecution  by 
Kalais  and  Zetes,  the  winged  sons  of  Boreas,  who,  in  grati¬ 
tude,  killed  them.  At  other  times,  as  the  case  of  the  daughters 
of  Pandareos,  they  are  described  as  carrying  off  their  victims 
bodily  from  the  earth;  while,  on  the  so-called  Harpy  tomb  in 
the  British  Museum,  they  appear  to  be  represented  as  daemons 
of  death  carrying  away  the  souls  of  deceased  persons. 

THE  GORGONS, 

By  name  Stheino,  Euryale,  and  Medusa,  were  daughters 
of  Phorkys  and  Keto.  Two  of  them  were  believed  to  be 
immortal,  while  the  third,  Medusa,  the  youngest  and  most 
beautiful  of  them,  was  mortal.  She  loved  Poseidon,  and  having 
met  him  once  in  the  temple  of  Athene,  to  the  desecration  of 
that  building,  was  punished  by  having  her  beautiful  hair 
turned  into  snakes,  thus  making  her  appearance  more  ghastly 
than  that  of  her  sisters.  Her  face  was  terrible  to  behold, 
turning  the  spectator  into  stone.  At  last  Perseus,  finding 
her  asleep,  cut  off  her  head  with  his  curved  sword,  and  pre- 


192 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


sented  it  to  Athene,  who  had  assisted  him  in  the  enterprise, 
to  be  worn  on  her  cegis  or  shield  as  a  terror  to  her  enemies. 

The  ancient  poets  describe  the  Gorgons  generally  as  horrid, 
aged  women,  and  frequently  place  them  by  the  side  of  the 
Furies.  In  early  times  there  was  only  one  Gorgon — Medusa 
— instead  of  the  three  of  later  times.  The  winged  horse, 
Pegasos,  was  the  offspring  of  her  and  Poseidon. 

In  Plate  XXXI.  Perseus  is  represented  standing  with  sword 
in  one  hand  and  the  head  of  Medusa  in  the  other,  turning  his 
face  away  to  avoid  seeing  it.  The  subject  of  Perseus  cutting 
off  the  head  of  Medusa  occurs  in  one  of  the  earliest  examples 
of  Greek  sculpture — one  of  the  metopes  of  the  oldest  temple  at 
Selinus,  in  Sicily;  and  from  the  conventional  manner  in 
which  her  face  is  represented,  compared  with  the  other  parts 
of  the  sculpture,  it  is  agreed  that  the  type  must  have  been 
familiar  for  some  time  to  Greek  art.  To  possess  a  represen¬ 
tation  of  a  Gorgon’s  face  was  to  be  provided  with  a  charm 
against  ills,  and  accordingly  it  was  frequently  employed  as  a 
personal  ornament.  Many  hundreds  of  such  faces  worked  in 
thin  gold,  and  intended  to  be  stitched  down  on  garments, 
were  found  in  the  tomb  of  a  priestess  of  Demeter  in  Kertch, 
and  are  now  in  the  hermitage  of  St.  Petersburg.  A  represen¬ 
tation  of  Perseus  escaping  after  cutting  off  the  Gorgon’s  head, 
and  being  pursued  by  her  sisters,  occurs  on  a  small  vase  in 
the  British  Museum,  where  also  is  to  be  seen,  on  a  fragment 
of  a  terra-cotta  relief,  Athene  holding  up  the  shield,  the 
polished  surface  of  which  reflected  her  face,  and  thus  guided 
Perseus  to  the  spot  without  his  encountering  its  deadly  stare. 


THE  GRAEME. 


193 


THE  GRAE JE, 

Daughters  of  Phorkys  and  Keto,  were  three  in  number; 
Deino,  Pephredo,  and  Enyo;  their  names  meaning  re¬ 
spectively  “alarm/’  “dread,”  and  “horror.”  Sisters  and  at 
the  same  time  guardians  of  the  Gorgons,  they  were  conceived 
as  misshapen  hideous  creatures,  hoary  and  withered  from  their 
birth,  with  only  one  eye  and  one  tooth  for  the  common  use  of 
the  three,  and  were  supposed  to  inhabit  a  dark  cavern  near  the 
entrance  to  Tartaros.  The  belief  in  their  existence  seems  to 
have  been  originally  suggested  by  the  grey  fog  or  mist  which 
lies  upon  the  sea  and  is  a  frequent  source  of  danger  to  the 
mariner.  It  is  said  that  Perseus  obtained  from  them  the- ne¬ 
cessary  information  as  to  the  dwelling  of  the  Gorgons  by 
seizing  their  solitary  eye  and  tooth,  and  refusing  to  return 
them  until  they  showed  him  the  way. 

NYX,  or  NOX, 

Was,  it  will  be  remembered,  a  daughter  of  Chaos.  She  be¬ 
came  the  wife  of  Erebos  (darkness),  and  bore  to  him  two 

% 

'  children,  ./Ether  (the  pure  air)  and  Hemera  (day).  In  the 
earliest  form  of  the  myth  she  was  one  of  the  seven  elements 
that  constituted  the  world — fire,  water,  earth,  sky,  sun,  moon, 
and  night. 

In  time  the  lively  imagination  of  the  ancients  associated 
with  this  mysterious  goddess  of  night  a  control  over  illness, 
sufferings,  dreams,  misfortunes,  quarrels,  war,  murder,  sleep, 
and  death ;  everything  inexplicable  and  frightful  that  befell 
men  being  personified  and  described  as  her  offspring. 

She  was  supposed  to  inhabit  a  palace  in  the  lower  world 
jointly  with  Day.  When  the  latter  entered  the  palace,  Night 
l3 


i94 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


rode  out  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  two  black  steeds,  and  accom¬ 
panied  by  many  stars,  traversed  the  heavens  till  daybreak, 
when  she  returned  to  the  palace. 

She  was  represented  as  a  serious  figure  clad  in  long  heavy 
drapery,  on  her  head  a  black  star-spangled  veil;  with  black 
wings,  and  carrying  two  children  in  her  arms  (one  of  them 
being  white  to  personify  Sleep,  the  other  black,  to  personify 
Death),  or  riding  in  a  black  chariot,  holding  an  extinguished 
torch  inverted. 


HYPNOS,  or  SOMNUS, 

Was,  as  we  have  just  said,  a  son  of  Night,  twin-brother  of 
Thanatos  (death),  with  whom  he  lived  in  deep  subterranean 
darkness  at  the  entrance  to  Tartaros.  His  influence  extended 
to  gods  as  well  as  men,  and  by  the  latter  he  was  viewed  as  a 
special  benefactor,  giving  the  weary  refreshing  rest,  and  suf¬ 
ferers  alleviation  of  their  pain. 

He  was  represented  in  different  forms  and  attitudes,  with 
different  attributes, — now  nude,  or  lightly  or  heavily  clad,  now 
standing,  or  striding  hastily,  or  reposing  heavily;  or  as  a 
powerful  youth  holding  a  poppy  or  a  horn,  from  which  sleep 
trickled  down  on  those  reposing;  or  as  a  child,  and  sometimes 
as  a  bearded  aged  man.  On  his  head  were  the  wings  of  a 
hawk  or  a  night  bird,  and  beside  him  frequently  a  lizard.  He 
was  looked  on  as  a  favourite  of  the  Muses,  apparently  because 
of  the  dreams  he  was  supposed  to  communicate  to  men.  * 

In  the  British  Museum  is  a  very  beautiful  bronze  head  of 
Hypnos,  with  the  wings  of  a  hawk  growing  out  from  the  tem¬ 
ples.  In  the  Iliad,  Hera  commands  him  to  take  the  form  of 
the  bird  which  men  call  a  hawk.  How  the  idea  originated 
of  attaching  wings  to  the  temples,  is  uncertain. 


ONEIROS. 


*95 


ONEIROS  and  MORPHEUS 

Are  two  different  forms  of  the  god  of  dreams.  According  to 

the  meaning  of  their  names,  the  office  of  the  latter  would  be 

/ 

to  fashion  dreams,  as  the  gods  desired  them  to  be  sent  to  men. 
In  this  task  he  was  assisted  by  Ikelos,  who  fashioned  those 
dreams  that  had  all  the  appearance  of  reality,  by  Phobetor, 
the  author  of  alarming  dreams,  and  Phantasos,  who  tricked 
sleepers  with  innumerable  and  strange  phenomena.  But  we 
find  Morpheus  also  represented  in  the  capacity  of  a  sort 
of  watchman  and  guardian  of  dreams,  as  ^Eolos  was  of  the 
winds. 

Oneiros  was  properly  a  personification  of  dreams,  whether 
idle  or  deceptive  or  really  prophetic.  Dreams  of  the  former 
class  were  supposed  to  issue  from  the  ivory  gates,  those  of  the 
latter  class  from  the  horn  gate,  of  the  palace  where  they  were 
kept,  beside  the  Western  Okeanos.  They  were  called  children 
of  Night,  sometimes  children  of  Sleep,  and  were  directly 
under  the  control  of  the  superior  order  of  gods,  who,  as  they 
pleased,  despatched  deceptive  or  prophetic  dreams  to  men. 

MOMUS 

Was  a  deity  whose  delight  and  occupation  was  to  jeer  bitterly 
at  the  actions  both  of  gods  and  men,  sparing  no  one  with  his 
insinuations  except  Aphrodite,  in  whom  he  could  find  nothing 
to  blame,  and  vexed  himself  to  death  in  consequence.  As 
an  example  of  his  behaviour,  it  is  said  that  he  complained 
of  the  man  that  Prometheus  had  made,  because  there  was 
not  a  window  in  his  breast  through  which  his  thoughts  might 
be  seen. 


196 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


THANATOS,  or  MORS, 

The  god  of  death,  was,  as  we  have  said,  a  son  of  Night  and 
twin-brother  of  Sleep.  He  was,  however,  also  described  as  a 
son  of  Earth  and  Tartaros,  to  whom  it  was  his  office  to  intro¬ 
duce,  some  time  or  other,  the  whole  of  mankind.  The 
relentless  severity  with  which  he  discharged  the  task  caused 
him  to  be  frequently  regarded  with  pain,  and  to  be  repre¬ 
sented  gs  of  a  powerful  figure,  with  shaggy  beard  and  fierce 
countenance,  with  great  wings  to  his  shoulders,  and  resemb¬ 
ling,  on  the  whole,  the  figure  of  Boreas,  the  god  of  the  wild 
north  wind  of  winter.  This  form,  in  the  case  of  both  deities, 
was  expressive  of  the  violent  nature  of  their  functions. 

Thanatos  was,  however,  more  frequently  regarded  with 
submission,  or  as  coming  opportunely,  and  in  such  cases  was 
represented  in  the  form  of  a  quiet  pensive  youth,  winged, 
standing  with  his  legs  crossed,  often  beside  an  urn  with  a 
wreath  on  it,  and  holding  an  extinguished  torch  reversed.  Or, 
as  a  personification  of  endless  repose,  he  appeared  in  the  form 
of  a  beautiful  youth  leaning  against  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  with 
one  arm  thrown  up  over  his  head — an  attitude  by  which  ancient 
artists  usually  expressed  repose.  It  was  probably  owing  to  the 
spread  of  the  belief  that  death  was  a  transition  from  life  to 
Elysium,  that  in  later  times  this  more  attractive  representation 
of  the  god  of  death  took  the  place  of  the  former  repulsive 
representations  whether,  as  a  powerful  and  violent  god,  or  as 
a  black  child  in  the  arms  of  his  mother,  Night.  Among  the 
figures  sculptured  on  the  chest  of  Kypselos,  a  description  of 
which  we  have  still  in  Pausanias,  was  that  of  Night  carrying 
twin  children  in  her  arms — the  one  white,  representing  Sleep, 
and  the  other  black,  representing  Death.  On  Roman  sarco- 


DAEMONS,  OR  GENII. 


I97 


phagi,  Mors,  or  the  genius  of  death,  was  represented  in  the  form 
of  a  winged  boy,  resembling  Cupid,  resting  and  holding  a 
torch.  In  the  Alcestis  of  Euripides  he  is  described  as  armed 
with  a  sword. 


DAEMONS,  or  GENII, 

Were  an  order  of  invisible  beings,  one  of  whom  was  assigned 
by  Zeus  to  every  man,  to  attend,  protect,  and  guide  him.  They 
were  nameless,  and,  like  the  multitude  of  mankind,  innumera¬ 
ble.  Some  of  them  acted  as  personal  attendants  to  deities  of 
a  higher  order,  and  in  that  case  were  represented  under  par¬ 
ticular  forms,  and  enjoyed  distinctive  names,  while  others  were 
believed  to  watch  over  particular  districts,  towns,  or  nations. 
While  the  Greeks  regarded  these  Daemons  as  deities  of  an 
inferior  order,  the  Romans  believed  them  to  be  a  sort  of  inter¬ 
mediate  beings  linking  mankind  to  the  gods.  The  Daemons 
assigned  to  women  were  supposed  to  be  feminine. 

To  every  man  was  assigned  a  Daemon  at  his  birth.  Iden¬ 
tifying  itself  with  him,  it  endeavoured,  throughout  his  life,  to 
guide  him  in  a  wise  course,  and  at  his  death  died  with  him. 
To  be  of  a  cheerful  mood,  and  to  be  careful  of  prolonging 
life,  was  to  live  in  obedience  to  a  man’s  Daemon  or  Genius. 
To  be  sad  and  vexed,  or  to  shorten  life  by  recklessness,  was 
to  wrong  the  attendant  spirit.  On  birthdays  it  was  usual  to 
offer  a  sacrifice  of  wine,  milk,  flowers,  or  incense  to  the  Genius, 
while  at  most  meals  some  unmixed  wine  was  poured  out  to  the 
“Good  Daemon”  (Agathodaemon). 

The  usual  representation  of  a  being  of  this  class  was  in  the 
form  of  a  youth  holding  a  horn  of  plenty  and  a  dish  in  one 
hand,  and  some  heads  of  poppies  and  ears  of  grain  in  the 


198 


INFERIOR  DEITIES. 


other.  The  presence  of  a  Daemon  was  also  symbolized  by  the 
figure  of  a  serpent. 

Besides  the  general  family  of  Genii,  the  Romans  had  one 
great  Genius  whom  they  reckoned  among  the  gods  of  the 
second  rank,  and  esteemed  highly,  believing  that  he  had  some 
control  over  the  others. 

LARES  AND  PENATES 

Were  beings  peculiar  to  the  religion  of  the  Romans.  Every 
household  was  supposed  to  be  under  the  protection  of  one 
Lar  and  several  Penates,  whose  presence  was  symbolized  by 
images  in  the  form  of  a  youth  wearing  a  short  tunic,  girt  at  the 
waist,  and  holding  a  horn  of  plenty  in  one  hand,  and  a  patei'a , 
or  flat  circular  dish,  in  the  other.  Such  images  of  the  Lares 
and  Penates  were  kept  in  a  particular  part  of  the  house  called 
the  Lararium ,  received  constant  offerings  of  incense  and  liba¬ 
tions,  and  were  decked  with  garlands  of  violets  and  rosemary. 
When  a  slave  obtained  his  freedom,  it  was  the  custom  of  his 
former  master  to  hang  a  chain  upon  the  figures  of  his  Lares. 
When  a  youth  left  the  paternal  roof  he  prayed:  “Ye  Penates 
of  my  fathers,  and  you,  Lar,  father  of  our  family,  I  commend 
to  you  my  parents,  that  you  may  protect  them.  Other 
Penates  and  another  Lar  I  must  now  seek.  *  ’ 

Besides  these  private  household  deities  there  were  also 
public  Lares,  who  were  recognized  as  the  protecting  spirits  of 
whole  states  and  towns.  Of  these  there  were  originally  two 
in  Rome,  and  later  three, — the  spirit  of  Julius  Caesar  having 
been  added  as  the  third ;  for  the  Lares  were  considered  to  be 
the  spirits  of  deceased  persons  who  continued  to  watch  over 
and  influence  the  living.  The  other  two  were,  however,  re- 


THE  MANES. 


I99 


garded  sometimes  as  sons  of  Mercury  and  a  nymph  called 
Lara.  Statues  and  temples  were  erected  in  their  honour. 
Sacrifice  and  prayers  for  the  safety  of  the  state  were  offered 
up  at  their  altars,  which  in  spring  and  in  summer  were  fre¬ 
quently  decked  with  flowers.  They  were  protectors  of  high¬ 
ways  and  travellers,  and  in  this  capacity  had  the  honour  of  a 
festival  called  Compitalia,  which  was  annually  celebrated  at 
cross-roads,  a  few  days  after  the  Saturnalia,  and  consisted 
of  a  banquet  and  sacrifice  of  cakes,  the  ceremony  being  con¬ 
ducted  by  slaves.  To  the  Lares  who  protected  the  fields, 
sacrifices  of  lambs,  calves,  and  pigs  were  offered. 

It  was  believed  that  the  Genii  of  good  people  became  after 
their  death  kindly  Lares,  while  the  Genii  of  evil-doers  became 
Lemures  or  Larvae — that  is,  evil  spirits  who  wandered 
about  the  earth  afflicting  mankind  with  illnesses  for  which 
there  was  no  remedy  but  expiatory  sacrifices  to  the  gods. 
Persons  who  died  without  expiation  for  every  wrong  they  had 

done  were  pursued  by  these  Larvae  in  the  lower  world. 

/ 

THE  MANES, 

Generally  speaking,  were  the  souls  of  the  departed  inhabiting 
the  realm  of  shadows.  Survivors,  however,  who  believe  that 
departed  souls  sustained  a  higher  and  nobler  existence, 
regarded  them  as  divine  beings,  calling  them  Dii  Manes, 
offered  sacrifice  to  them  at  tombs,  and  thought  it  possible  to 
call  them  up  from  the  lower  world. 


III.  DEMIGODS,  OR  HEROES. 


DEMIGODS,  or  heroes,  were  a  class  of  beings  peculiar, 
it  would  seem,  to  the  mythology  of  the  Greeks.  They 
were  regarded  partly  as  of  divine  origin,  were  represented  as 
men  possessed  of  godlike  form,  strength,  and  courage ;  were 
believed  to  have  lived  on  earth  in  the  remote  dim  ages  of  the 
nation’s  history;  to  have  been  occupied  in  their  lifetime  with 
thrilling  adventures  and  extraordinary  services  in  the  cause  of 
human  civilization,  and  to  have  been  after  death  in  some 
cases  translated  to  a  life  among  the  -gods,  and  entitled  to 
sacrifice  and  worship.  They  were  described  as  having  been 
the  first  sovereigns  and  legislators  of  the  nation,  and  as  the 
founders  of  all  the  kingly  and  noble  families.  Monsters  that 
devastated  particular  localities  were  destroyed,  the  oppressed 
were  set  free,  and  everywhere  order  and  peaceful  institutions 
were  established  by  them.  They  were,  in  short,  the  adven¬ 
turous  knights  the  history  of  whose  deeds  formed  for  the  mass 
of  the  people  the  first  chapter  of  the  national  history,  and  that 
in  a  manner  worthy  both  of  the  civilization  to  which  the  nation 
had  attained,  and  of  the  gods  to  whose  influence  the  progress 
was  due.  The  legends  of  their  adventures  furnished  to  poets 
and  artists  an  inexhaustible  treasure  of  striking  figures,  won¬ 
derful  deeds,  and  strange  events,  while  they  formed  at  the 
same  time  a  most  powerful  element  in  the  national  education. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  HEROES. 


201 


It  has  been  suggested  that  the  belief  in  these  beings  may- 
have  originated  in  later  times,  in  an  impulse  to  people  the  blank 
early  pre-historic  age  with  ideal  figures  of  a  sublime  order  of 
men,  to  whom  the  nation  might  look  back  with  pride ;  or 
that  it  may  have  originated  in  a  desire  to  dwell  on  the  memory 
of  distinguished  persons  who  had  actually  existed,  and  in  time, 
by  so  doing,  to  exaggerate  their  actions  to  a  degree  quite  be¬ 
yond  human  powers.  But  it  is  far  more  probable  that,  like 
the  gods,  the  heroes  had  originally  been  divine  personifications 
of  certain  elements  of  nature,  and  the  legends  of  adventures 
ascribed  to  them  merely  a  mythical  form  of  describing  the 
phenomena  of  these  elements.  The  idea,  for  example,  of  a 
long  struggle  and  ultimate  victory  over  grim  enemies,  which 
is  so  characteristic  of  these  adventures,  is  the  same  idea  that 
we  find  pervading  the  early  myths,  in  which  the  powers  of 
light  are  represented  as  struggling  with,  and  finally  overcom¬ 
ing  the  powers  of  darkness.  But  while  the  gods  always  main¬ 
tained  their  relationship  to  the  elements  of  nature,  of  which 
they  were  divine  personifications — marine  deities  for  instance, 
dwelling  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  celestial  deities  in  the 
pure  ether — the  heroes  or  demigods,  on  the  other  hand,  had 
ceased  to  be  identified  with  any  particular  element,  and  though 
retaining  the  form,  strength,  and  courage  of  gods,  came  in 
time  to  be  regarded  as  men  of  high  order  that  had  once  in¬ 
habited  Greece,  but  had  passed  away.  The  legends,  which, 
as  we  have  said,  had  been  intended  to  be  the  mythical  de¬ 
scriptions  of  certain  natural  phenomena,  were  expanded  so  as 
to  embrace  the  new  variety  of  adventures  which  imagination 
with  its  wide  scope  now  assigned  to  the  heroes. 

There  appears  to  have  been  a  time  when  the  gods  generally 
were  in  danger  of  being  reduced  in  this  manner  to  the  condi- 


202 


HEROES. 


tion  of  demigods  or  heroes, — such  events,  for  instance,  as  the 
war  of  Zeus  with  the  Titans  and  Giants,  the  contests  of  Apollo 
with  Tityos  and  Python,  or  of  Dionysos  with  his  enemies, 
being  calculated,  from  their  adventurous  nature,  to  present 
their  authors  more  in  the  light  of  heroes  than  of  gods,  and  to 
form  readily  subjects  for  the  epic  poets,  as  indeed  the  contests 
of  Dionysos  did.  This  tendency  was,  however,  arrested  by 
the  necessity  of  defining,  for  the  purposes  of  worship,  the 
provinces  of  the  various  deities.  From  that  time  the  position 
of  the  gods  was  determined,  while  the  heroes  became  less  and 
less  distinguishable  from  men,  the  legends  concerning  them 
assuming  gradually  more  of  a  historical  than  of  an  ideal  char¬ 
acter.  Traditions  of  early  battles  and  victories  that  still  lin¬ 
gered  among  the  people,  were  made  to  circle  round  these  ima¬ 
ginary  heroes,  who  in  time  became  the  centres  of  all  the 
earliest  national  recollections,  the  accredited  founders  of  most 
of  the  elementary  institutions  of  social  life,  and  the  guides  of 
colonists. 

It  does  not,  however,  follow  that  the  particular  elements  of 
nature. over  which  the  heroes  or  demigods  had  originally  pre¬ 
sided,  were  left  after  this  separation  unrepresented  by  divine 
beings.  For  in  addition  to  the  vast  number  of  gods  in  the 
Greek  national  religion,  whom  we  have  already  described  as 
identified  with  this  or  that  department  of  the  universe,  there 
must  have  been  in  the  early  ages  a  large  number  of  local  deities, 
who,  when  the  tribes  to  which  they  were  peculiar,  coalesced 
in  after  times  into  one  Greek  nation,  must  have  appeared  in 
many  cases  quite  identical  in  character,  though  probably  very 
often  different  in  regard  to  the  details  of  the  deeds  or  adven¬ 
tures  ascribed  to  them.  Thus  many  who  may  have  been  dis- 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  HEROES. 


203 


pensed  with  as  gods  would  be  retained,  on  account  of  their 
local  adventures,  as  heroes  or  demigods. 

Turning  to  the  oldest  examples  of  the  Greek  epic  poetry 
which  we  possess — the  Iliad  and  Odyssey — we  find  the  heroes 
represented  as  hardly  distinguishable  from  men.  More  power¬ 
ful,  more  beautiful,  and  more  courageous  they  certainly  were 
than  the  ordinary  men  of  their  day,  and  on  this  account  were 
looked  on  as  descendants  of  the  gods ;  still  their  ways  of  life 
were  distinctly  the  ways  of  men,  not  of  gods. 

By  the  time  of  Hesiod  we  find  this  opinion  of  the  heroes 
changed.  The  heroic  age  is  lamented  as  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  people  of  his  time,  aware  of  their  weakness  and  wants, 
looked  back  with  reverent  feelings  to  the  happy  age  in  which 
the  great  heroes  stood  between  the  gods  and  feeble  mankind. 
Zeus,  it  was  taught  by  Hesiod,  had  translated  the  heroes  to  the 
islands  of  the  blest,  far  removed  from  men,  where  they  lived 
in  a  perpetual  golden  age  under  the  sovereignty  of  Kronos. 
The  people,  however,  thought  otherwise,  believing  that  the 
ancient  tumuli  in  Greece  and  in  Asia  Minor  were  the  graves 
of  the  heroes.  The  imposing  tumuli  at  the  entrance  to  the 
Hellespont,  for  instance,  were  viewed  as  the  tombs  of  Achilles, 
Patroklos,  and  Ajax.  Sanctuaries  and  temples  were  erected 
to  heroes,  their  bones  were  searched  for,  and  when  found  re¬ 
garded  as  a  great  source  of  strength  to  the  town  that  possessed 
them  ;  all  relics  of  their  stay  on  earth  were  hallowed,  and  a 
form  of  worship  was  specially  adapted  to  them. 

In  later  times  the  heroes  came  to  be  identified  more  or  less 
with  the  Daemons.  The  consequence  of  this  was  that  all  in¬ 
dividuals  who  on  account  of  extraordinary  strength,  courage, 
beauty,  talent,  or  self-sacrifice,  were  supposed  to  be  possessed 
of  special  Daemons,  were  reckoned  as  heroes.  And  this  wa§ 


204 


HEROES. 


not  confined  to  persons  remarkable  for  their  good  qualities ; 
successful  daring  entitling  a  robber  to  this  rank  as  much  as  did 
the  bravery  of  the  men  who  fell  at  Marathon  and  Platsese. 

In  still  later  times,  as  the  belief  gained  ground  that  every 
soul  had  something  of  the  nature  of  a  Daemon  in  it,  and  was 
destined  to  a  higher  and  nobler  life,  heroic  honours  were  paid 
to  almost  all  the  dead;  so  that  when  a  man  of  particular 
distinction  died,  the  only  course  left  open  of  paying  him  sig¬ 
nal  honours  was  to  regard  him  as  having  been,  after  the 
manner  of  Herakles,  translated  to  a  life  among  the  gods,  and 
to  worship  him  as  a  god. 

It  is,  however,  only  with  the  heroes  or  demigods  that  occur 
in  the  mythology  and  the  epic  poetry  that  we  have  to  do. 
They  may  be  divided  into  three  classes:  First,  the  demigods, 
associated  with  the  creation  of  mankind  and  the  earliest  inci¬ 
dents  of  human  history  and  civilization, — the  most  striking 
figure  among  them  being  that  of  Prometheus.  Secondly,  the 
earlier  heroes  properly  so  called — such  as  Herakles,  Theseus, 
Minos,  Pelos,  Perseus,  or  Bellerophon,  who  were  distinguished 
for  their  extraordinary  adventures,  labours,  and  expeditions, 
such,  for  example,  as  that  of  the  Argonauts  to  Kolchis.  Third¬ 
ly,  the  more  recent  heroes,  the  tales  of  whose  deeds  and  ex¬ 
peditions — for  instance,  those  against  Troy  and  Thebes — read 
more  like  historical  traditions  magnified  by  the  imagination 
of  the  poets,  than  allegorical  narratives  such  as  those  of  the 
two  preceding  classes. 


PROMETHEUS. 


205 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN 


PROMETHEUS  and  the  FIRST  DEMIGODS. 


MONG  the  various  opinions  in  ancient  times  concerning 


Tjl  the  origin  of  mankind,  the  most  generally  accepted  one 
appears  to  have  been  that  in  which  it  was  asserted  that  man 
and  all  other  forms  of  life  had,  like  the  gods,  originally  sprung 
from  the  common  mother  earth.  It  was  not  supposed  that 
the  whole  human  race  could  trace  its  lineage  back  to  one 
primeval  pair;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  believed  that  a  pri¬ 
meval  pair  had  been  created  in  all  the  chief  districts  in  which 
mankind  was  afterwards  found  settled.  As  the  natural  fea¬ 
tures  of  these  districts  varied,  so  varied  the  opinions  with 
regard  to  the  exact  substance  from  which  the  first  beings  had 
sprung.  In  wooded  and  mountainous  districts,  for  instance, 
they  were  held  to  have  sprung  from  rocks  and  trees ;  in  val¬ 
leys,  from  the  moist  element  of  nature.  As  to  the  time  at 
which  this  creation  took  place,  and  whether  it  took  place 
simultaneously  throughout  the  various  inhabited  regions,  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing  the  current  belief. 

From  the  primitive  condition  of  savages  living  like  animals 
in  the  forests  and  caves,  they  advanced  slowly  in  the  direction 
of  civilization, — sometimes  visited  with  terrible  punishments, 
and  sometimes  assisted  by  the  gods;  the  different  classes  or 
tribes  becoming  in  time  united  into  two  great  races, — the 
Pelasgic  and  the  Hellenic.  The  former  traced  its  origin  to 


20  6 


HEROES. 


the  Argive  Phoroneus,  and  appears  to  have  been  resident 
mated/  in  the  Peloponnesos,  while  the  latter  looked  back  to 
Deukalion  as  its  founder,  and  was  resident  in  Thessaly  and 
round  Parnassos.  According  to  the  story,  a  great  flood  had 
swept  away  the  whole  human  race  except  one  pair,  Deukalion 
and  Pyrrha,  who,  as  the  flood  abated,  landed  on  Mount  Par¬ 
nassos,  and  thence  descending,  picked  up  stones,  and  cast 
them  round  about,  as  Zeus  had  commanded.  From  these 
stones  sprang  a  new  race — men  from  those  cast  by  Deukalion, 
and  women  from  those  cast  by  his  wife.  From  Hellen,  the 
son  of  Deukalion,  the  Hellenic  race  derived  its  name,  while 
its  four  great  branches,  the  H£olians,  Dorians,  Achaeans,  and 
Ionians,  traced  their  descent  and  names  from  four  of  his  sons. 

In  such  a  primitive  condition  of  life,  perhaps  nothing  was 
regarded  as  of  greater  importance,  or  more  mysterious  in  its 
nature,  than  fire.  Its  beam  dispelled  the  dread  of  darkness, 
and  its  warmth  removed  the  chill  of  winter.  The  fire  of  the 
hearth  was  the  centre  of  domestic  life.  At  the  forge,  tools 
and  weapons  were  fashioned.  It  was  an  emblem  of  the  life 
of  man,  with  its  flash  and  sudden  extinction  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  illumination  of  its  prolonged  blaze  on  the  other.  In 
storms  it  was  seen  descending  from  the  sky,  and  in  volcanic 
eruptions  it  was  seen  issuing  from  the  earth.  The  source  of 
it  all  was  readily  believed  to  be  in  the  close  keeping  of  the 
gods ;  and  how  mankind  came  to  obtain  the  use  of  it  was 
explained  in  the  story  of  Prometheus. 

Zeus,  foreseeing  the  arrogance  that  would  arise  from  the 
.  possession  of  so  great  a  blessing,  had  from  the  first  refused 
to  transmit  any  portion  of  his  sacred  fire  to  men.  Their 
deplorable  condition,  however,  owing  to  the  want  of  it, 
found  a  champion  in  the  person  of  Prometheus  (a  son  of  the 


V 


PROMETHEUS.  20  7 


Titan  Japetos),  who  had  previously  identified  himself  with 
the  cause  of  humanity  in  a  dispute  that  arose  at  Mekone 
(Sikyon)  as  to  the  rightful  share  of  the  gods  in  all  sacrifices 
offered  to  them.  On  that  occasion  an  ox  had  been  slaugh¬ 
tered  as  a  sacrifice,  and  Prometheus,  having  wrapped  up  all 
the  eatable  parts  in  the  skin  of  the  animal  as  one  portion,  and 
having  cleverly  covered  the  bones  and  worthless  parts  with 
fat  as  the  other  portion,  asked  Zeus  to  select  what  he  thought 
the  better  portion  for  the  gods.  Zeus,  though  perfectly  aware 
of  the  deceit,  chose  the  worthless  parts,  and  more  firmly  than 
ever  determined  to  withhold  his  fire  from  men.  Prometheus, 
however,  resolved  to  obtain  it  for  them,  and  succeeded  in 
snatching  some  of  it  from  the  hearth  of  Zeus,  or,  as  another 
version  of  the  story  has  it,  from  the  forge  of  Hephaestos  in 
Lemnos.  As  a  punishment,  he  was  condemned  to  be  chained 
alive  to  a  rock  in  the  remote  Caucasus  mountains,  and  to  sub¬ 
mit  while  every  day  a  vulture  came  to  gnaw  away  his  liver, 
which  daily  grew  afresh.  For  a  long  time  he  bore  this  suffer¬ 
ing,  and  indeed  would  never  have  been  released  but  for  the 
secret  which  he  possessed  concerning  the  ultimate  fate  of  the 
dominion  of  Zeus,  who,  for  the  purpose  of  learning  the  secret, 
permitted  Herakles  to  shoot  the  vulture,  to  free  Prometheus, 
and  bring  him  back  to  Olympos. 

Meanwhile  the  human  race  enjoyed  the  many  benefits  of 
fire,  and  continued  to  advance  in  civilization  rapidly.  But 
that  their  cup  of  happiness  might  be  mixed  with  sorrow,  Zeus 
ordered  Hephaestos  to  fashion  a  woman  of  clay,  of*  divine 
beauty,  but  possessed  of  all  the  weaknesses  as  well  as  charms 
of  human  nature.  Athene  instructed  her  in  the  industrial 
occupations  of  women,  Aphrodite  gave  her  grace  of  manners, 
and  taught  her  the  arts  of  a  beauty,  while  Hermes  qualified 


208 


HEROES. 


her  for  the  part  of  flattering  and  soothing.  With  the  help  of 
the  Graces  and  Horae,  Athene  robed  her  with  costly,  beautiful 
robes,  and  decked  her  with  flowers,  so  that,  when  all  was  done, 
Pandora,  as  they  called  her,  might  be  irresistibly  attractive  to 
gods  and  men.  Hermes  conducted  her  to  Epimetheus, 
who,  though  warned  by  his  brother  Prometheus  to  accept  no 
gift  from  Zeus,  yielded  to  the  besetting  weakness  from  which 
he  obtained  his  name — that  of  being  wise  when  it  was  too 
late.  He  received  Pandora  into  his  house,  and  made  her  his 
wife.  She  brought  with  her  a  vase,  the  lid  of  which  was  to 
remain  closed.  The  curiosity  of  her  husband,  however, 
tempted  him  to  open  it,  and  suddenly  there  escaped  from  it 
troubles,  weariness,  and  illnesses,  from  which  mankind  was 
never  afterwards  free.  All  that  remained  was  Hope. 

We  have  thus,  in  contrast  with  the  general  belief  described 
above  as  the  spontaneous  origin  of  man  from  the  earth,  an 
instance  of  a  human  being  directly  fashioned  by  the  gods  from 
clay.  From  this  mean  substance  it  was  also  asserted  the  first 
men  were  made  by  Prometheus,  Athene  assisting  him  by 
breathing  .life  into  his  figures.  But  this  was  probably  only  a 
learned  speculation,  indulged  in  to  account  for  the  zeal  dis¬ 
played  by  Prometheus  in  the  cause  of  human  civilization.  It 
is  better  to  account  for  that  zeal  by  assuming  Prometheus  to 
have  been  originally  a  god  of  fire,  who,  asserting  his  right  to 
employ  that  element  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  provoked 
the  hostility  of  the  other  gods,  and  from  that  time  forward 
identified  himself  with  the  cause  of  men.  There  is  good 
ground  for  assuming  this  in  the  fact  that  Prometheus  was 
intimately  associated  with  Hephaestos  in  the  very  ancient 
worship  of  that  god  in  Lemnos  and  in  Attica. 

While  the  progress  of  civilization,  as  far  as  it  had  depended 


THE  FIRST  HEROES. 


209 


on,  or  could  be  symbolized  by,  fire,  was  connected  with  Pro¬ 
metheus,  the  progress  of  agriculture  in  primitive  times  was 
reflected  in  the  story  of  the  two  giants  Otos  and  Ephialtes, 
sons  of  Aloeus  (the  planter)  and  Iphimedeia.  Small  and  puny 
at  their  birth,  they  grew  quickly,  living  on  grain,  and  soon 
became  the  wonder  of  men  for  their  great  size  and  beauty. 
Finding  that  war  and  agriculture  could  not  go  together,  they 
seized  Ares,  the  god  of  war,  bound  and  confined  him  in  a 
large  brazen  vase  for  thirteen  months.  He  would  have  per¬ 
ished  in  it  had  not  Hermes  at  length  heard  of  his  imprison¬ 
ment,  and  set  him  free.  Becoming  more  and  more  arrogant 
in  the  pride  of  their  strength,  the  two  brothers  next  determined 
to  assail  the  immortal  gods  in  Olympos  itself,  and  for  this 
purpose  they  had  placed  Mount  Ossa  on  the  top  of  Mount 
Olympos,  and  upon  Ossa  had  heaped  Mount  Pelion,  when 
the  shafts  of  Apollo  felled  'them.  They  perished  in  youth, 
ere  their  beards  had  grown. 


THE  EARLIER  RACE  OF  HEROES. 

IT  will  be  convenient  to  separate,  for  the  present,  the 
legends  of  the  adventures  of  Herakles,  together  with  those 
that  relate  to  combined  expeditions  of  heroes  from  different 
districts, — such  as  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts, — from  the 
other  legends  of  this  earlier  race  of  heroes,  and  to  arrange  the 
latter  class  according  to  the  localities  assigned  as  the  princi¬ 
pal  scenes  of  their  actions,  beginning  with 

14 


210 


HEROES. 


(a.)  ARGOS. 

At  the  head  of  the  Argive  line  of  heroes  stands  Inachos, 
the  river-god,  a  son  of  Okeanos,  like  all  the  other  river-gods. 
With  the  nymph  Melia  for  his  wife,  he  became  the  father  of 
Phoroneus  and  Io,  of  whom  the  former,  according  to  Argive 
legends,  was  the  first  man  upon  the  earth.  Such  services  as 
Prometheus  was  elsewhere  believed  to  have  rendered  to  early 
civilization,  were  there  ascribed  to  Phoroneus.  He  was 
reputed  to  have  founded  the  town  of  Argos,  and  to  have  estab¬ 
lished  there  the  worship  of  Hera.  With  regard  to  Io,  we 
(have  already  related  (in  connection  with  Hermes)  how  she 
was  loved  by  Zeus,  and,  to  escape  the  jealousy  of  Hera,  was 
transformed  by  him  into  a  cow — how  Hera,  discovering  the 
transformation,  set  a  watch  over  Io,  in  the  person  of  Argos, 
a  giant  with  a  hundred  eyes,  and*how  Hermes  slew  the  watch¬ 
man  and  released  Io.  Another  version  of  the  story  says  that 
it  was  Hera  who  transformed  Io  into  a  cow,  for  the  purpose 
of  thwarting  the  love  of  Zeus  for  her.  Argos  had  tethered 
her  to  an  olive-tree  in  a  grove  sacred  to  Hera,  between  the 
towns  of  Mykenae  and  Argos,  and  was  there  keeping  guard 
when  Hermes  arrived  and  slew  him.  Though  set  free,  Io  did 
not  yet  regain  her  human  form,  but  was  compelled  to  wander 
through  distant  lands  in  the  form  of  a  white  horned  cow, 
goaded  by  a  vexatious  insect  sent  by  Hera.  At  last,  on 
reaching  Egypt,  she  obtained  rest,  was  restored  to  her  human 
form;  and  became  the  mother  of  E  paphos. 

Io,  the  white  horned  cow,  appears  to  have  been  a  personifi¬ 
cation  of  the  moon,  like  the  Phoenician  goddess  Astarte,  who 
was  also  represented  in  this  form.  Her  wanderings  were  like 
the  wanderings  of  the  moon.  Hera,  who  punished  her,  was 


DANAOS. 


2 1 1 


the  supreme  goddess  of  the  heavens.  Argos,  with  his  many 
eyes,  reminds  us  of  the  stars.  The  slaying  of  Argos  by  Her¬ 
mes  was  a  favourite  subject  with  ancient  artists. 

Epaphos  became  king  of  Egypt,  and  had  a  daughter  called 
Libya  (after  the  district  of  that  name  on  the  shore  of  the 
Mediterranean),  who  bore  to  Poseidon,  the  sea-god,  two 
sons — Agenor  and  Belos.  While  the  former  became  the 
head  of  a  race  that  spread  over  Phoenicia,  Cilicia,  and  on  to 
Thebes  in  Greece,  Belos  remained  in  Egypt,  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  and  marrying  Anchirrhoe,  a  daughter  of  the  Nile, 
had  two  sons,  ./Egyptos  and  Danaos.  The  latter  was  ap¬ 
pointed  to  rule  over  Arabia,  the  former  over  Libya.  H£gyp- 
tos  had  fifty  sons,  and  Danaos  the  same  number  of  daughters. 
A  dispute  arose  between  the  two  families,  and  Danaos  yielding 
took  ship  with  his  daughters  and  sailed  to  Argos,  pursued  all 
the  way  by  the  sons  of  Hsgyptos.  At  Argos,  the  home  of  his 
race,  he  was  kindly  received  by  the  reigning  king,  and  pro¬ 
tected  against  the  pursuers. 

At  that  time  the  district  of  Argos  was  suffering  from  a 
drought  which  Poseidon  had  angrily  caused.  Danaos  sent  out 
his  daughters  to  search  for  a  spring,  and  while  they  were  so 
engaged  it  happened  that  one  of  them,  Amymone,  throwing 
her  spear  at  a  stag  missed  it,  and  hit  a  Satyr  who  was  asleep  in 
the  brake.  Pursued  by  the  Satyr,  she  called  on  the  name  of 
Poseidon  for  help,  and  the  god  instantly  appeared,  drove  off 
the  Satyr,  and  for  love  of  the  beautiful  Danaid  caused  a  peren¬ 
nial  spring  to  flow  at  Lerna,  where  he  met  her.  Amymone 
bore  to  Poseidon  Nauplios,  the  wrecker  of  Nauplia,  who  by 
false  lights  misled  many  ships  to  their  destruction  among  rocks, 
and  enriched  himself  from  their  cargoes.  By  a  singular  fatality 
he  perished  in  this  way  himself  at  last.  He  had  three  sons : 


212 


HEROES. 


Palamedes,  celebrated  for  his  inventive  faculty,  Oiax,  the 
steersman,  and  Nausimedon,  the  ship  captain. 

Meantime  the  sons  of  Higyptos,  it  is  said,  having  besieged 
Argos  for  some  time,  at  length  proposed  to  forget  their  differ¬ 
ence  with  Danaos,  and  to  marry  his  daughters.  Without 
relenting  in  the  least,  he  agreed  to  give  his  daughters  to  them 
in  marriage,  but  to  each  daughter  he  presented  a  knife,  and 
commanded  them  all  to  slay  each  her  own  husband  on  the 
marriage  night.  All  obeyed  his  order  except  Hypermnestra, 
who  preferring  to  be  regarded  as  of  weak  resolution  than  as  a 
murderess,  spared  her  husband,  Lynkeus,  and  became  the 
mother  of  the  Argive  line  of  kings.  While  Zeus  approved- 
the  murderous  deed  of  her  forty-nine  sisters,  and  sent  Athene 
and  Hermes  to  give  them  expiation,  Hypermnestra  was  cast  into 
a  dungeon  by  her  indignant  father,  her  husband,  Lynkeus, 
saving  himself  by  flight.  On  being  brought  to  trial  she  was 
however  publicly  acquitted ;  her  husband  returning  to  Argos, 
succeeded  Danaos  on  the  throne,  and  in  after  times  was  widely 
respected,  among  other  things  for  having  founded  the  great 
festival  in  honour  of  the  Argive  Hera.  The  prize  of  victory 
in  the  games  that  accompanied  that  festival  was  a  shield, 
not  a  wreath,  as  was  elsewhere  usual;  the  tradition  be¬ 
ing  that  on  the  first  occasion  of  these  games  Lynkeus  pre¬ 
sented  his  son  Abas  with  the  shield  which  had  belonged  to 
Danaos. 

Whether  it  was  to  obtain  husbands  for  his  daughters  who 
had  accomplished  their  own  widowhood,  or  whether  it  was  to 
decide  among  a  multitude  of  suitors  for  their  hands,  Danaos 
held  a  kind  of  tournament,  the  victors  in  which  were  to  be  ac¬ 
cepted  as  husbands.  On  the  morning  of  the  contest  he  ranged 
his  daughters  together  on  the  course,  and  by  noon  each  had 


AKRISIOS  AND  PRCETOS. 


213 


been  carried  off  by  a  victorious  athlete,  a  scion  of  some  noble 
house. 

It  was  said  that  after  death  the  Dana'ides,  with  the  exception 
of  Hypermnestra,  were  punished  in  Tartaros  by  having  con¬ 
tinually  to  carry  water,  and  pour  it  in  the  vain  endeavour  of 
filling  a  broken  cistern.  It  may  be  that  this  form  of  punish¬ 
ment  was  selected  for  them  as  the  most  suitable  for  women, 
who  generally  in  Greece  were  the  drawers  of  water.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  very  suggestive  of  the  dry  parched  soil  of 
Argos,  the  streams  of  which  were  always  dried  up  in  summer. 

From  Abas,  the  son  of  Hypermnestra  and  Lynkeus,  sprang 
the  brothers  Akrisios  and  Prcetos,  famous  for  their  hatred 
of  each  other  from  infancy  onwards.  When  they  had  grown 
*  up,  Proetos,  finding  himself  constantly  defeated  in  the  frater¬ 
nal  encounters,  fled  to  Lycia,  and  was  there  hospitably  re¬ 
ceived  by  the  king,  Iobates,  and  the  queen,  Amphianax, 
whose  daughter,  Sthenebcea,  he  married.  With  the  assist¬ 
ance  of  a  Lycian  army  he  was  reinstated  in  his  rights  of  sov¬ 
ereignty  over  Argos  and  Corinth,  fortifying  himself  in  the 
citadel  of  Tiryns,  while  his  brother  Akrisios  held  out  in  that 
of  Larisa.  Of  both  citadels,  the  massive  structures,  now  in 
ruins,  still  bear  witness  to  the  fierce  assaults  which  must  have 
been  made  upon  them. 

Proetos  had  three  daughters,  whose  exceeding  beauty  made 
them  prizes  which  the  noblest  youth  of  the  country  sought  to 
win.  But  they  were  haughty,  despised  the  common  usages  of 
the  times,  scorned  to  take  part  in  the  worship  of  Dionysos, 
and  made  ridicule  of  the  sanctity  of  Hera’s  ancient  image  and 
shrine.  For  this  they  were  punished  by  a  form  of  insanity 
which  drove  them  ever  to  wander  restlessly  among  the  woods 
and  hills  of  Argos  and  Arcadia.  It  is  further  said  that,  being 


214 


HEROES. 


under  the  hallucination  that  they  were  cows,  they  lowed  like 
kine  as  they  wandered  about.  The  father  summoned  Melam- 
pos,  the  prophet  and  priest,  to  work  a  cure  upon  his  daughters, 
but  on  the  prophet’s  stipulating  a  third  of  the  kingdom  as  his 
reward,  dismissed  him  again.  The  evil  grew  worse,  for  the 
other  women  of  the  country  began  to  yield  to  the  infatuation 
of  abandoning  their  husbands  and  slaying  their  children. 
Melampos  was  recalled,  and  this  time  demanded  an  additional 
third  of  the  kingdom  for  his  brother,  Bias.  Proetos  agreed, 
and  Melampos,  collecting  a  body  of  active  youths,  pursued 
the  three  princesses  over  the  mountains,  and  on  to  Sikyon, 
where  the  eldest  of  the  three  died,  and  the  other  two,  after 
being  purified,  were  given  in  marriage  to  Melampos  and  Bias 
respectively. 

jf.  This  legend  also  would  seem  to  have  originated  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  very  ancient  worship  of  Hera,  as  queen  of  the 
heavens,  at  Argos ;  the  wanderings  of  the  three  daughters  of 
Proetos,  under  the  imaginary  form  of  cows,  having  reference, 
like  the  similar  wanderings  of  Io,  to  the  moon. 

Returning  to  Akrisios,  we  find  him  troubled  at  the  prospect 
ofhaving  no  heir  to  his  throne.  To  this  question  the  oracle 
at  Delphi  replied  that  a  daughter  would  be  born  to  him,  and 
that  she  would  bear  a  son  who  would  slay  his  grandfather,  and 
rule  in  his  stead.  The  daughter,  Danae  by  name,  was  born, 
and  to  prevent  the  latter  part  of  the  oracle  from  being  fulfilled, 
she  was  imprisoned  in  a  subterranean  chamber.  But  a  shower 
of  gold,  sent  by  Zeus,  penetrated  to  her,  and  she  became  the 
mother  of  an  infant  destined  to  fulfil  the  oracle  and  to  become 
conspicuous  among  the  ancient  heroes.  He  was  named 
Perseus,  probably  with  reference  to  his  being  a  son  of  Zeus, 
the  great  god  of  light,  and  to  his  having  been  born  in  dark- 


DANAE. 


215 


ness,  in  which  respect,  as  in  several  others,  he  may  be  com¬ 
pared  with  Apollo,  whose  mother  was  Leto  (darkness),  while 
his  father  was  Zeus.  The  shower  of  gold  would  thus  .signify 
a  beam  of  golden  light. 

Akrisios,  hearing  the  voice  of  the  child,  summoned  his 
daughter  to  the  altar  of  Zeus  to  give  a  solemn  explanation  of 
the  circumstance.  Disbelieving  her  story,  he  placed  mother 
and  child  in  a  closed  box,  and  committed  them  to  the  waves. 
After  rocking  about  on  the  bosom  of  the  sea,  the  box  was  at 
last  carried  towards  the  island  of  Seriphos,  and  was  there 
caught  in  a  net  belonging  to  a  fisherman  named  Diktys,  who 
took  the  waifs  to  his  house,  and  acted  kindly  by  them.  It  was 
a  very  barren  island,  affording  little  but  shelter  to  the  families 
of  fishermen  that  inhabited  it.  The  chief  or  king  of  it  was 
Polydektes,  a  brother  of  Diktys,  just  mentioned,  and  as 
notorious  for  the  gaiety  of  his  habits  as  was  his  brother  for 
his  simplicity.  Struck  with  the  beauty  of  Danae,  and  finding 
that  her  son  Perseus  stood  in  the  way  of  the  fulfilment  of  his 
desires,  Polydektes  became  anxious  to  get  rid  of  him,  and 
gladly  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  that  presented  itself 
when  Perseus,  not  to  be  outdone  in  professions  of  loyalty, 
vowed  that  he  would  even  fetch  the  head  of  the  Gorgon 
Medusa  for  the  king,  should  he  wish  it. 

Perseus  set  forth  sadly  on  his  mission,  but  took  •  courage 
when  Hermes  and  Athene,  who  often  lent  their  aid  in  heroic 
adventures,  appeared  to  him,  and  led  him  to  where  the  Graeae 
lived, — three  aged  women,  with  only  one  eye  and  one  tooth 
in  common.  Perseus,  seizing  the  indispensable  eye  and  tooth, 
refused  to  give  them  back  until  they  told  him  where  to  find 
the  nymphs  who  had  in  keeping  the  helmet  of  Hades,  the 
winged  shoes,  and  the  pouch  necessary  for  his  future  move- 


21 6 


HEROES. 


ments.  On  arriving  at  where  the  nymphs  lived,  he  obtained 
from  them  the  objects  in  question,  to  which  Hermes  added  the 
knife  ( harfie )  with  which  he  had  cut  off  the  head  of  Argos. 
Buckling  on  the  winged  shoes,  he  proceeded  towards  the 
Gorgons  with  the  speed  of  a  bird,  the  helmet  of  Hades  making 
him  invisible,  but  concealing  nothing  from  his  sight.  It  is 
further  said  that  Athene  instructed  him  how  to  approach 
Medusa  without  being  petrified,  as  was  usual,  by  her  stare. 
To  this  end  she  gave  him  a  shield  of  polished  brass,  on  which, 
as  in  a  mirror,  he  could  see  the  reflection  of  the  Gorgon,  while 
he  himself,  unseen,  advanced  and  cut  off  her  head.  The  in¬ 
stant  he  had  done  this  there  sprang  from  the  trunk  of  Medusa 
Pegasos,  the  winged  horse,  and  Chrysaor,  the  father  of  Geryo- 
neus.  Perseus,  placing  the  head  quickly  into  the  pouch  which 
the  nymphs  had  given  him,  hastened  from  the  scene,  pursued 
by  the  two  sisters  of  Medusa  for  some  distance. 

Among  his  adventures  on  the  way  back  to  Seriphos  were  the 
turning  of  Atlas  into  stone  because  the  giant  refused  to  receive 
him  hospitably,  and  the  release  of  Andromeda,  whom  he 
found,  on  passing  over  ^Ethiopia,  bound  to  a  rock  on  the  sea¬ 
shore  as  a  victim  to  a  great  sea-monster.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Kepheus  and  Kassiepeia,  the  king  and  queen  of  y£thio- 
pia.  The  latter  having  vaunted  herself  equal  in  beauty  to  the 
Nereids,  gave  offence  to  them  and  to  Poseidon  also,  who 
thereupon  visited  the  country  with  a  flood,  and  sent  a  dread¬ 
ful  monster  from  the  sea  to  destroy  both  men  and  cattle.  On 
appealing  to  the  oracle  of  Ammon  in  Libya,  Kepheus  was  told 
that  the  evil  would  not  abate  until  he  exposed  his  beautiful 
daughter,  Andromeda,  to  the  monster.  Compelled  by  his 
subjects  to  yield,  the  luckless  father  took  her  to  the  shore,  and 
chained  her  to  a  rock,  in  the  position  in  which  Perseus  found 


PERSEUS. 


217 


her.  Struck  with  her  beauty,  Perseus  undertook  to  save  her 
on  condition  that  she  should  become  his  wife.  Kepheus 
agreed  to  this,  and  Perseus,  after  slaying  the  monster,  un¬ 
chained  the  maiden.  She  had,  however,  been  engaged  be¬ 
forehand  to  Phineus,  her  father’s  brother,  who,  arriving 
with  a  strong  body  of  soldiers,  burst  in  upon  the  marriage 
feast.  But  the  sight  of  the  Gorgon’s  head  turned  them  all  to 
stone,  and  Perseus  triumphantly  carried  off  his  bride. 

Arriving  at  Seriphos,  he  found  that  his  mother  and  Diktys 
were  being  persecuted  by  Polydektes,  and  obliged  to  seek  pro¬ 
tection  at  the  altars  of  the  gods.  His  course  was  to  announce 
his  arrival  to  the  king,  who  at  once  assembled  his  nobles  to 
witness  how  the  young  hero  had  kept  his  word.  Perseus  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  assembly,  and  producing  the  Gorgon’s  head, 
turned  the  king  and  all  his  nobles  instantly  to  stone.  Not 
content  with  punishing  in  this  manner  the  principal  persecu¬ 
tors  of  his  mother,  Perseus  is  said  to  have  turned  the  island 
itself  into  a  great  barren  rock,  and  to  have  spared  only  the 
excellent  Diktys  and  the  fishing  population  attached  to  him. 
Even  the  frogs  of  the  island  became  dumb,  said  an  ancient 
proverb. 

Having  thus  fulfilled  his  promise,  and  rescued  his  mother, 
Perseus  handed  over  the  winged  shoes,  the  pouch,  and  the 
helmet  that  made  him  invisible,  to  Hermes,  to  be  restored  to 
the  nymphs.  The  head  of  Medusa  he  gave  to  Athene,  who 
ever  after  wore  it  on  her  shield.  Accompanied  by  Danae  and 
Andromeda,  he  set  out  for  Argos  to  find  his  grandfather, 
Akrisios,  who,  however,  in  the  meantime  having  left  Argos  in 
consequence  of  an  increasing  dread  lest  the  oracle  should  be 
fulfilled  regarding  his  death,  had  established  himself  at  Larisa 
in  Thessaly.  Thither  Perseus  proceeded,  and  found,  on  his 


2l8 


HEROES. 


* 


arrival,  the  king,  Teutamias,  occupied  with  public  games  in 
honour  of  his  deceased  father.  Perseus  took  part  in  the 
games,  and  by  a  fatality  which  justified  the  oracle,  the  disc 
which  he  threw  fell  upon  the  foot  of  Akrisios,  and  caused  his 
death.  After  burying  his  grandfather  honourably  at  Larisa, 
Perseus  returned  to  Argos  to  his  mother  and  wife,  but  instead 
of  establishing  himself  there,  exchanged  Argos  for  Tiryns, 
which  was  then  held  by  Megapenthes,  a  son  of  Proetos, 
and  soon  after  founded  the  ancient  Mykenae,  with  its  massive 
walls. 

Perseus  and  Andromeda  had  two  sons — Elektryon  and 
Alkaeos.  Alkmene,  the  mother  of  Herakles,  was  a  daugh¬ 
ter  of  the  former,  and  her  husband,  Amphitryon,  a  son  of 
the  latter.  It  was  also  said  that  before  leaving  the  court  of 
her  father,  Kepheus,  Andromeda  had  born  a  son,  whom  they 
called  Perses,  and  left  behind  with  his  grandfather.  From 
this  Perses  the  Persian  kings  traced  their  lineage.  The  kings 
of  Pontos  and  Cappadocia,  claiming  the  same  descent,  intro¬ 
duced  a  figure  of  Perseus  on  their  coins.  In  Tarsos  and  in 
Egypt  also  were  traditions  of  ancient  benefits  derived  from 
the  Greek  hero. 

While  the  wanderings  of  Io  remind  us  of  the  wanderings  of 
the  moon,  and  lead  us  to  connect  the  origin  of  the  legends 
concerning  her  with  the  worship  of  Hera  at  Argos,  the  adven¬ 
tures  of  Perseus  similarly  suggest  the  apparent  movement  of 
the  sun,  and  the  effect  of  his  light,  particularly  in  slaying  the 
dread  monsters  with  which  the  imagination  peoples  darkness. 
It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  origin  of  the  belief  in  these 
adventures  must  have  had  some  connection  with  the  Argive 
worship  of  Zeus  and  Athene. 

His  adventures,  either  as  an  entire  story  or  in  parts,  formed 


SISYPHOS  AND  ASOPOS. 


219 


a  most  attractive  subject  to  ancient  poets,  and  were  frequently- 
represented  in  works  of  art,  many  of  which  we  still  possess. 
One  of  the  earliest  examples  of  Greek  sculpture  to  which  an 
approximate  date  can  be  assigned,  is  a  group  on  a  temple  at 
Selinus  in  Sicily,  which  represents  him  cutting  off  the  Gor¬ 
gon’s  head,  and  belongs  to  the  seventh  century  b.  c. 

In  Plate  XXXI.  he  is  figured  holding  the  head  of  Medusa 
in  one  hand  and  the  curved  sword  in  the  other.  In  Plate 
XXXII.  is  the  rescue  of  Andromeda. 


(A)  CORINTH. 

Owing  to  its  convenient  situation  on  the  isthmus  between 
two  seas,  Corinth  was  from  very  early  times  an  important  seat 
of  commerce ;  and  as  such  being  chiefly  dependent  for  its 
prosperity  on  the  benignity  of  the  sea-god  Poseidon,  had  at 
an  early  period  established  his  worship,  and  exalted  him  as  its 
principal  god.  In  the  legends  concerning  the  Corinthian 
heroes  we  would  therefore  expect  to  find  decided  traces  of 
this  worship,  just  as  in  those  of  Argos  we  found  traces  of  the 
early  worship  of  Hera. 

With  regard  to  Sisyphos,  the  first  of  these  heroes,  the 
legend  was  that  he  had  chanced  to  see  Zeus  carrying  off  ZEgina, 
the  daughter  of  the  river-god  Asopos,  and  having  marked  the 
direction  of  their  flight  as  towards  the  island  of  ZEgina,  de¬ 
termined  to  make  capital  of  his  knowledge,  by  informing 
Asopos  of  what  he  had  seen,  on  condition  that  the  river-god 
would  create  a  spring  of  water  on  the  parched  citadel  of  Co¬ 
rinth — Acrocorinth,  as  it  was  called.  The  terms  were  agreed 


220 


HEROES. 


to,  and  Sisyphos  at  once  secured  the  afterwards  famous  foun¬ 
tain  of  Peirene.  But  Zeus  could  not  permit  the  act  of  treach¬ 
ery  to  pass  unpunished.  He  sent  the  god  or  daemon  of  death 
to  claim  him.  Instead  of  yielding,  Sisyphos  bound  the  daemon 
with  strong  chains,  and  retained  him,  no  one  dying  in  the 
meantime,  till  Ares  arrived  and  broke  the  chains.  Sisyphos 
was  then  handed  over  to  the  daemon,  but  before  departing 
charged  his  wife,  Merope,  not  to  offer  the  customary  sacrifices 
for  the  dead,  and  thus  to  disappoint  Pluto  and  Persephone. 
Arrived  in  Hades,  he  began  to  denounce  this  neglect  on  the 
part  of  his  wife,  and  repeated  his  complaint  so  often  that  he 
was  at  last  allowed  to  return  to  the  upper  world.  Another 
version  of  the  story  has  it  that  Herakles  carried  him  off  by 
force  from  Hades.  In  either  case  he  returned  to  Corinth,  lived 
to  an  advanced  age,  and  after  death  was  punished,  as  we  have 
already  related,  by  having  to  roll  a  huge  stone  up  a  height, 
which  when  it  had  gained  the  summit  immediately  rolled  back. 

It  may  be  that  the  idea  of  such  a  punishment  was  suggested 
by  the  backward  and  forward  rolling  of  stones  by  the  treacher¬ 
ous  waves  on  the  shore.  At  any  rate  we  find  a  connection  of 
Sisyphos  with  the  worship  of  Poseidon  in  the  statement  that 
he,  at  the  command  of  the  Nereides,  received  the  dead  body 
of  Melikertes  from  his  mother,  and  instituted  in  his  honour 
the  Isthmian  games,  which  afterwards  were  held  in  honour  of 
Poseidon. 

More  directly  connected  with  the  worship  of  the  sea-god  is 
the  legend  of  Glaukos,  the  son  of  Sisyphos.  The  reference 
in  his  name  to  the  colour  of  the  sea  is  strengthened  by  the 
title  of  Pontios  which  he  bore,  and  yet  it  is  not  with  the  sea 
directly,  but  with  horses  the  accredited  symbols  of  the  waves, 
that  he  is  associated.  For  some  reason — from  having  been  fed 


t 


I 


I  •  .  -  '■ 


* 


. 


* 


XXXII 


Bellerophon. 


Perseus  and  Andromeda. 


BELLEROPHON. 


221 


on  human  flesh,  according  to  one  report — his  horses  became 
furious,  and  tore  their  master  to  pieces.  In  after  times  his 
name  was  a  terror  to  equestrians  in  the  hippodromes,  the  cur¬ 
rent  belief  being  that  Glaukos  survived  as  an  evil  spirit  wan¬ 
dering  about  and  frightening  horses. 

A  figure  of  far  greater  importance  than  Glaukos  in  the 
legendary  history  of  Corinth,  was  his  son  Bellerophon. 
Not  that  Corinth  had  been  to  any  extent  the  scene  of  his  ex¬ 
ploits;  for,  except  the  incident  of  the  bridling  of  Pegasos, 
his  memorable  adventures  were  all  conducted  elsewhere — in 
Argos  at  first,  and  afterwards  in  Lycia.  His  story  was,  more¬ 
over,  strangely  blended  with  that  of  the  Argive  Perseus.  It 
may  be  that  the  proximity  of  the  two  towns,  and  the  political 
dependence  of  Corinth  on  Argos,  wrought  in  time  an  assimi¬ 
lation  in  the  legends  of  two  heroes  originally  quite  distinct. 
Or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  that  the  difference  in  the 
pursuits  and  religious  inclinations  of  the  two  towns  acted  on 
the  imagination  in  such  a  way  as  to  alter  a  legend  originally 
common  to  both,  so  much  that  each  might  in  time  fairly  claim 
a  separate  hero  of  its  own.  Whichever  way  it  may  have  been, 
the  Corinthians  were  proud  of  Bellerophon,  and  in  early 
times  had  a  figure  of  his  horse,  Pegasos,  on  their  coins. 

With  regard  to  that  wonderful  winged  horse,  we  have  already 
related  how  it  sprang  from  the  neck  of  the  Gorgon  Medusa, 
when  Perseus  cut  her  head  off.  The  legend  proceeds  to  tell 
how  it  flew  through  the  air,  and  did  not  set  foot  on  earth  until 
it  reached  the  citadel  of  Corinth,  where  it  halted  to  quench 
its  thirst  at  the  famous  fountain  of  Peirene.  Bellerophon, 
after  trying  in  vain  to  catch  it,  applied  to  the  seer  Polyidos 
for  advice,  and  was  told  to  lay  himself  down  to  sleep  at  night 
beside  the  altar  of  Athene.  This  he  did,  and  in  the  course 


» 


222 


HEROES. 


of  his  sleep  dreamed  that  the  goddess  came  and  gave  him  a 
golden  bridle,  bidding  hi'm  show  it  to  his  father,  Poseidon,  and 
at  the  same  time  sacrifice  a  white  ox  to  him.  Waking,  he  found 
the  bridle,  sacrificed  the  ox,  and,  on  the  advice  of  the  seer, 
dedicated  an  altar  to  Athene.  The  horse  at  once  took  the  bit, 
and  from  that  time  proved  of  the  most  service  to  its  master. 

According  to  the  ancient  derivation,  the  name  of  Bellero- 
phon  signifies  the  “ slayer  of  Belleros,”  the  story  being  that  he 
had  accidentally  caused  the  death  of  a  person  of  that  name, 
either  his  own  brother,  or  a  Corinthian  noble.  To  obtain 
the  necessary  purification,  he  repaired  to  Argos,  and  was  there 
kindly  received  by  Proetos,  the  reigning  king.  Unfortunately, 
however,  the  wife  of  Proetos,  Stheneboea  (or,  as  Homer  calls 
her,  Anteia),  resembled  Potiphar’s  wife  in  the  bent  of  her 
passions,  and  finding  the  young  hero  firm  against  her  temp¬ 
tations,  resolved  to  accomplish  his  ruin,  to  this  end  charging 
him  before  the  king  with  an  attempt  to  violate  her.  Proetos, 
on  hearing  the  charge,  decided  to  send  the  youth  to  Lycia, 
to  the  court  of  Iobates,  the  father  of  Stheneboea,  with  a  letter 
written  in  strange  characters,  in  which  the  Lycian  king  was 
instructed  to  compass  the  death  of  the  bearer.  The  parting 
scene,  where  Bellerophon  receives  the  letter,  and  Stheneboea 
still  gazes  affectionately  on  him,  is  represented  on  several 
ancient  painted  vases. 

Arriving  at  the  Lycian  court,  Bellerophon  was  entertained 
hospitably  for  nine  days.  On  the  tenth  day  the  king  inquired 
the  business  of  his  guest,  and  received  the  letter  of  Proetos. 
Acting  on  the  instructions  of  the  letter,  Iobates  despatched 
him  with  orders  to  slay  the  Chimsera*  (a  monster  composed 


*  It  was  represented  in  art  as  a  lion  with  a  goat’s  head  springing  from 


BELLEROPHON. 


223 


of  a  lion  in  front,  a  goat  in  the  middle,  and  a  serpent  behind), 
which  infested  the  mountains,  and  slaughtered  all  who  at¬ 
tacked  it.  But  Pegasos  carried  his  master  up  in  the  air  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  monster,  and  yet  not  too  far  for  his  spear  to 
have  deadly  effect.  (Plate  XXXII.)  Bellerophon  returned 
triumphant.  Though  his  scheme  had  not  succeeded,  the  king 
had  at  any  rate  got  rid  of  a  terrible  enemy  to  his  subjects,  and 
determined  a  second  time  to  profit  by  the  prowess  of  the  young 
hero,  if  he  should  fail  in  causing  his  death.  Accordingly  he 
sent  him  to  fight  against  the  Solymi,  a  hostile  neighbouring 
tribe,  from  which  he  again  returned  victorious.  With  like 
success  he  fought  against  the  Amazons,  those  warlike  women 
of  Asia  Minor,  whom  the  ancient  poets  and  artists  delighted 
to  represent  as  fighting  stoutly  against  the  best  heroes  of 
Greece,  but  always  being  vanquished.  With  this  result  they 
opposed,  for  example,  Herakles  and  Theseus,  and  afterwards, 
in  the  Trojan  war,  took  part  against  the  Greeks.  (See  Plate 
XXXIII.)  It  would  seem  from  their  connection  with  the 
Ephesian  Artemis,  among  other  reasons,  that  the  legends  con¬ 
cerning  them  originated  in  the  worship  of  the  moon  goddess. 

In  a  last  effort  to  secure  the  death  of  Bellerophon,  the 
Lycian  king  planned  an  ambush  for  him  of  his  bravest  knights, 
all  of  whom,  when  the  time  came,  perished  at  the  hands  of 
the  hero,  who,  it  then  became  clear,  could  be  no  other  than 
the  son  of  a  god.  Instead  of  being  put  to  further  encounters, 
he  received  the  hand  of  the  king’s  daughter  in  marriage,  and 
with  her  the  half  of  the  kingdom.  The  grateful  Lycians 
bestowed  on  him  a  large  estate,  well  wooded  and  fitted  for 


its  back.  The  statement  of  its  spitting  fire  may  have  reference  to  the  vol¬ 
canic  features  of  Lycia. 


224 


HEROES. 


agriculture.  His  wife  bore  him  three  blooming  children : 
Isandros,  Hippolochos,  and  Laodameia.  In  short,  he 
had  reached  the  pinnacle  of  happiness.  But  the  gods  pre¬ 
pared  a  catastrophe  for  him.  He  became  insane,  and  wan¬ 
dered  about  sad  and  alone,  avoiding  the  company  of  men. 
His  son  Isandros  was  slain  by  Ares,  his  daughter  Laodameia, 
by  Artemis.  According  to  another  report,  repeated  success 
in  hazardous  adventures  had  inflamed  him  with  the  desire  to 
mount  to  Olympos  on  the  back  of  his  wonderful  horse.  In 
the  attempt  he  fell  to  earth,  smitten  by  the  thunderbolt  of 
Zeus,  and  died. 

00  THEBES. 

It  is  a  relief  to  turn  from  the  bloodshed  and  perilous  adven¬ 
tures  of  the  Corinthian  and  Argive  heroes,  to  the  comparatively 
tranquil  toue  of  the  Theban  legends,  with  all  their  variety  of 
character  and  incident.  We  would  not  be  understood  to  say 
that  the  tales  of  Thebes  are  free  from  horrors,  but  only  that 
the  general  impression  left,  especially  by  the  earliest  of  them, 
concerns  the  daring  and  achievements  of  mind  rather  than  the 
exploits  of  physical  courage. 

First  among  the  heroes  of  Thebes  is  Kadmos,  the  founder 
of  the  ancient  city — the  Kadmeia,  as  it  was  called — who,  while 
rendering  important  services  to  the  population  gathered  round 
him  there  in  the  management  of  their  public  affairs,  is  said  to 
have  conferred  on  Greece  generally  an  inestimable  blessing  in 
the  form  of  an  alphabet,  or  means  of  communicating  thoughts 
in  writing,  previously  unknown  in  that  land.  It  is  this 
alphabet,  more  or  less  modified,  that  we  still  employ.  That 
he  found  the  letters  of  it  in  use  among  the  Phoenician  traders 
who  visited  Greece  in  remote  early  times,  establishing  factories 


KADMOS. 


225 


in  many  places, — among  others,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Thebes, — is  probable ;  but  to  believe,  as  the  Greeks  did,  that 
Kadmos  was  a  Phoenician  by  birth,  and  that  the  system  of 
civilization  which  he  introduced  was,  like  the  alphabet,  Phoe¬ 
nician,  was  only  another  instance  of  the  readiness  with  which 
the  Greeks  listened  to  stories  that  traced  the  beginnings  of 
their  civilization  back  to  the  influence  of  the  more  ancient 
nations  of  the  East. 

The  genealogy  of  Kadmos,  according  to  the  legend,  com¬ 
menced  with  the  sea-god  Poseidon  and  Libya,  who  had  two 
sons — Belos  (Baal)  and  Agenor;  the  former  becoming  king 
of  Egypt,  the  latter  of  Phoenicia.  By  his  wife,  Telephassa, 
Agenor  had  one  daughter — Europa — and  three  sons, — Kad¬ 
mos,  Phoenix,  and  Kilix.  The  sister  having  disappeared — 
carried  off,  it  was  said,  on  the  back  of  a  white  bull,  into  which 
Zeus  had  transformed  himself  for  love  of  her — the  brothers 
were  sent  to  search  for  her  in  different  directions.  Phoenix 
and  Kilix,  wearied  of  searching  in  vain,  settled  down  in  the 
countries  named  after  them,  while  Kadmos,  accompanied  by 
his  mother,  proceeded  through  the  Greek  islands  northwards 
to  the  coast  of  Thrace.  There  his  mother  died  and  was  buried. 
Efe  proceeded  to  Delphi,  to  ask  the  oracle  concerning  his 
sister.  The  advice  was  to  search  no  longer,  but  to  follow  a  cow 
which  should  come  in  his  way,  and  where  it  lay  down  to  rest 
there  to  found  a  city.  Leaving  Delphi,  he  saw  a  cow,  and 
followed  it  through  Bceotia,  till  it  reached  the  place  where 
Thebes  was  afterwards  built,  and  there  lay  down.  Intending 
to  sacrifice  the  cow  in  honour  of  Athene,  his  protecting 
goddess,  Kadmos  sent  his  attendants  to  a  fountain  not  far  off 
to  fetch  water.  It  happened,  however,  that  the  fountain  was 
watched  by  a  terrible  dragon,  which  killed  his  men.  With 
15 


226 


HEROES. 


the  aid  of  Athene,  Kadmos  slew  the  monster,  and,  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  goddess,  sowed  its  teeth  in  the  ground,  from 
which  there  instantly  sprang  a  number  of  wild  armed  giants, 
called  Spartse.  By  throwing  a  stone  among  them,  Kadmos 
so  roused  their  passions  that  they  fell  upon  each  other  with 
such  fury  and  effect  that  only  five  of  them  survived.  From 
these  five  the  noblest  families  of  Thebes  afterwards  traced  their 
lineage. 

To  appease  Ares,  whose  dragon  he  had  slain,  Kadmos  was 
compelled  to  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  that  god  for  eight 
years,  or  a  “  long  year”  as  it  was  called,  the  usual  period 
prescribed  for  penance  in  such  cases.  His  term  of  service 
having  expired,  he  was  raised  by  Athene  to  the  throne  of 
Thebes ;  and  to  complete  his  happiness  Zeus  gave  him  Har- 
monia,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Ares  and  Aphrodite,  for  his 
wife.  The  gods  of  Olympos  went  to  the  marriage  feast,  and 
made  presents  to  the  pair.  The  Muses  sang  a  marriage  song. 
The  gift  of  Kadmos  to  his  wife  consisted  of  a  splendid  dress 
( peplos ),  which  Athene  had  worked  for  him,  and  the  famous 
necklace  made  by  Hephsestos.  From  the  marriage  sprang 
four  daughters, — Semele,  Ino,  Autonoe,  Agaue, — and 
one  son, — Polydoros. 

Autonoe  married  Aristaeos,  to  whom  she  bore  Aktoeon, 
the  young  huntsman  who,  for  the  misfortune  of  having  once 
seen  Artemis  bathing,  was  transformed  into  a  stag,  and  de¬ 
voured  by  his  own  hounds.  Ino  married  Athamas,  of  whom 
it  is  said  that,  being  seized  of  a  frenzy,  he  pursued  his  wife  to 
do  her  violence,  and  that  she  eluded  him  by  leaping  into  the 
sea,  after  which  she  was  regarded  as  a  marine  goddess  under 
the  name  of  Leukothea.  Semele  became  the  mother  of  the 
wine-god  Dionysos,  and  at  the  birth  of  her  child  was,  as  has 


AMPHION  AND  ZETHOS. 


227 


been  already  related,  struck  dead  by  the  thunderbolt  of  Zeus. 
Agaue,  marrying  Echion,  one  of  the  five  surviving  Spartae^ 
became  the  mother  of  Pentheus,  who,  after  the  death  of 
Polydoros,  succeeded  to  the  sovereignty  of  Thebes. 

Semele  being  dead,  her  statement  that  Zeus  himself  was  the 
father  of  her  child  was  disbelieved  by  her  sisters,  especially 
by  Agaue.  But  after  her  son  Dionysos  had  grown  up,  and 
returned  to  Thebes  from  his  triumphant  journey  eastward  to 
India,  Agaue  and  the  other  women  of  Thebes  changed  their 
minds,  and  embraced  his  worship  with  its  extravagant  rites. 
Pentheus,  then  king  of  Thebes,  opposed  the  introduction  of  the 
new  religion,  but  in  the  course  of  his  opposition  was  slain  by 
his  mother  and  her  excited  companions.  Labdakos,  the 
son  of  Polydoros,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Meantime  Agaue, 
recovering  her  senses  under  the  affliction,  fled  to  Illyrium. 

Grief  at  the  calamities  that  fell  so  thickly  on  their  children 
at  last  drove  Kadmos  and  Harmonia  from  Thebes.  They 
wandered  to  Illyrium,  and  there  found  peace  in  the  grave. 
Their  bodies,  it  was  believed,  had  been  transformed  into  two 
snakes  that  lay  beside  their  tomb,  while  their  spirits  had  been 
placed  in  Elysion  by  Zeus. 

After  Kadmos,  the  next  figures  of  importance  are  the  twin- 
brothers  Amphion  and  Zethos,  who  resemble  in  many  re¬ 
spects  the  “great  twin-brethren  ”  Castor  and  Pollux,  being  like 
them  represented  riding  on  white  horses,  and  appearing  with 
aid  in  times  of  distress.  Between  the  two  brothers  there  was 
a  great  difference  of  character,  Amphion  being  devoted  to 
music,  and  excelling  in  the  skill  with  which  he  played  the  lyre 
given  him  by  Hermes,  while  Zethos  applied  himself  wholly  to 
rough  life,  such  as  hunting  and  herding.  What  Zethos  did  by 
physical  force,  Amphion  accomplished  by  the  persuasion  of  his 


228 


HEROES. 


strains,  as  was  shown  in  the  case  of  their  building  the  walls  of 
Thebes,  the  population  of  which  had  so  far  outgrown  the  limits 
of  the  old  town  founded  by  Kadmos  as  to  require  new  barriers 
against  invasion.  While  Zethos  toiled  in  bringing  huge  stones 
for  this  purpose,  Amphion,  like  Orpheus,  had  only  to  strike  his 
lyre,  and  still  larger  stones  followed  whither  he  led  the  way. 
Such  was  the  story,  the  intention  of  which  seems  to  have 
originally  been  to  point  to  the  combination  of  actual  strength 
with  harmony  in  placing  the  blocks  required  in  good  masonry. 
The  same  idea  recurs  in  the  legend  of  the  building  of  the 
Trojan  walls  by  Apollo  and  Poseidon,  the  former  god  corres¬ 
ponding  to  Amphion  and  the  latter  to  Zethos.  The  seven 
gates  of  Thebes  answered  to  the  seven  strings  of  the  lyre. 

The  mother  of  the  two  Theban  brothers  was  Antiope,  who, 
according  to  an  early  report,  was  a  daughter  of  the  river-god 
Asopos.  In  the  usual  genealogy,  however,  she  was  described 
as  a  daughter  of  Thebe  and  Nykteus  (the  “dark  and 
stormy”),  who  held  the  office  of  regent  in  Thebes  during  the 
minority  of  Labdakos.  Zeus  having  approached  Antiope  in 
the  form  of  a  Satyr,  she  was  driven  from  her  father’s  house, 
and  forced  to  seek  refuge,  which  she  found  with  Epopeus, 
the  king  of  Sikyon.  Under  his  protection  she  remained  some 
time,  the  father  meanwhile  demanding  in  vain  that  she  should 
be  given  up  to  him.  Ultimately  she  was  given  up  to  Lykos 
(“light  ”)  the  brother  of  Nykteus,  but,  as  his  name  implies,  of 
quite  an  opposite  character.  Returning  with  him,  she  gave 
birth  to  twin  boys  on  the  way,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Eleutherse.  The  infants  were  entrusted  to  a  herdsman  to  be 
brought  up.  The  mother  was  carried  off  to  Thebes,  where,  as 
a  contrast  to  the  gentle  treatment  she  had  experienced  from 
Lykos,  she  was  subjected  by  his  wife,  Dirke,  to  relentless 


CEDIPOS. 


229 


cruelty.  After  enduring  continued  persecution  for  some  years, 
Antiope  fled  from  Thebes,  and  taking  the  direction  of  Mount 
Kithaeron,  where  her  children  had  been  left,  at  last  reached 
the  house  of  the  herdsman  who  had  taken  care  of  them.  She 
did  not,  however,  recognize  him,  nor  was  she  aware  that  the 
two  youths,  who  took  kindly  to  her,  were  her  sons.  It 
happened  just  then  that  Dirke,  who  had  come  to  Mount 
Kithaeron  to  take  part  in  some  Bacchic  ceremony,  detected 
her  escaped  victim,  and  ordered  the  two  young  herdsmen  to 
fetch  a  wild  bull  from  their  herd,  and  to  bind  her  to  its  horns, 
that  she  might  be  dragged  to  death.  They  would  have  obeyed 
her  command,  had  not  the  old  herdsman  at  the  moment 
recognized  Antiope,  and  revealed  her  as  their  mother.  On 
hearing  the  story  of  her  former  troubles,  Amphion  and  Zethos, 
in  their  indignation,  seized  Dirke,  bound  her  to  the  bull 
which  they  had  brought,  and  looked  on  while  she  perished 
miserably.  The  legend  adds  that  Dirke  was  transformed  into 
a  fountain,  which  bore  her  name. 

On  the  return  of  Antiope  with  her  sons  to  Thebes,  Lykos 
abdicated  in  their  favour,  and  then  commenced  the  building 
of  the  walls,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  Amphion 
married  Niobe,  the  daughter  of  the  Lydian  king  Tantalos, 
and  had  a  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  whose  beauty,  in  their 
mother’s  eyes,  might  measure  with  that  of  Apollo  and  Artemis. 
How  she  was  punished  for  her  pride  has  already  been  related. 
After  the  death  of  Amphion  and  Zethos,  caused,  it  was  said, 
by  the  arrows  of  Apollo,  the  sovereignty  of  Thebes  finally 
passed  to  Labdakos,  of  whose  reign  little  is  said,  his  fame 
consisting  chiefly  in  his  being  the  father  of  Laios  and  grand¬ 
father  of  CEdipos. 

This  Laios  married  Jokaste,  a  daughter  of  Menoikeus,  and 


230 


HEROES. 


\ 


had  by  her  a  son,  CEdipos.  An  oiacle  had  said  that  the  child, 
on  growing  to  manhood,  would  cause  the  death  of  his  father. 
To  avert  this  danger,  Laios  exposed  the  newly-born  infant  on 
Mount  Kithaeron,  expecting  it  to  perish.  It  was,  however, 
found  by  some  herdsmen,  conveyed  by  them  to  Corinth,  and 
there  given  over  to  the  king,  Polybos,  whose  wife  was  child¬ 
less,  and  took  readily  to  the  castaway.  Arriving  at  years  of 
manhood,  CEdipos  inquired  at  an  oracle  concerning  his  paren¬ 
tage,  and  was  told  in  reply  to  avoid  the  lands  of  his  ancestors, 
for  otherwise  he  would  cause  his  father’s  death,  and  thereafter 
marry  his  own  mother.  Puzzled  by  an  answer  so  mysterious, 
and  being  uncertain  whether  Polybos  might  not  have  been  his 
father,  he  left  the  court  at  Corinth,  and  wandered  about  the 
country.  In  the  course  of  his  wanderings  he  met  Laios  tra¬ 
velling  with  a  retinue.  A  quarrel  arose  between  CEdipos  and 
some  of  the  royal  attendants.  Laios  took  the  part  of  his  men, 
and  was  slain  in  the  fight  by  his  son,  who,  unaware  of  the  • 
blackness  of  the  crime  he  had  committed,  proceeded  on  his 
way  to  Thebes.  There  he  found  great  distress  prevailing,  in 

consequence  of  the  loss  of  life  caused  by  a  Sphinx — a  mon- 

» 

ster  with  the  body  of  a  lion,  and  the  head,  breast,  and  arms 
of  a  woman.  This  creature  had  a  riddle  which  she  propounded 
to  all  who  approached  her,  and  on  their  failing  to  resolve  it, 
as  always  happened,  threw  them  from  the  high  rock  where  she 
lived.  Not  so  CEdipos,  who  read  the  riddle  rightly;  upon 
which  the  Sphinx  cast  herself  from  the  rock,  and  perished. 
The  prize  offered  to  the  man  who  should  succeed  in  getting 
rid  of  the  Sphinx  was  the  hand  of  Jokaste,  the  widow  of  Laios, 
along  with  the  throne  of  Thebes.  CEdipos  married  her,  and 
fulfilled  the  oracle. 

They  had  two  sons,  Eteokles  and  Polyneikes,  and  two 


THESSALY. 


231 


daughters,  Antigone  and  Ismene,  neither  being  aware  of 
the  criminality  of  their  marriage,  until,  on  inquiring  at  the 
oracle  the  cause  of  certain  misfortunes  that  had  befallen  the 
country,  they  received  an  answer  which  revealed  the  facts  in 
all  their  horror.  Jokaste  slew  herself,  while  CEdipos,  after 
putting  out  his  eyes,  forsook  Thebes,  and  wandered  about 
accompanied  by  his  faithful  daughter,  Antigone.  His  two 
sons  succeeded  him  in  the  government,  quarrelled  with  each 
other,  however,  and  ultimately  fell,  both  of  them,  in  a  personal 
encounter,  as  we  shall  relate  afterwards. 

The  various  acts  of  this  terrible  tragedy  were  reproduced  on 
the  Athenian  stage  with  all  the  poetic  power  of  ^Eschylus  and 
Sophocles. 


OO  THESSALY. 

In  harmony  with  the  wild,  rocky  features  of  the  country, 
the  early  legends  of  Thessaly  tell  of  furious  wars,  in  which  the 
combatants  fought  with  trunks  of  trees,  or  hurled  rocks  and 
even  hills  at  each  other.  It  was  there  that  the  war  of  the  gods 
against  the  Giants  and  Titans  took  place.  There  the  brothers 
Otos  and  Ephialtes  heaped  hill  on  mountain  in  their  ambition 
to  scale  the  heavens.  There  Poseidon  cleft  the  mountain- 
range  asunder  with  his  trident,  and  formed  the  pleasant  vale 
of  Tempe.  Mount  Olympos,  with  its  clouded  summit,  where 
the  gods  were  once  supposed  to  dwell,  was  there,  and  there 
also  was  Iolkos,  the  seat  of  the  ancient  race  of  the  Minyae. 
Gryton  was  the  hold  of  the  Lapithae,  and  the  scene  of  those 
combats  between  them  and  the  Centaurs  which  formed  in 
after  times  so  attractive  a  subject  to  Greek  sculptors. 

Among  the  Lapithae  the  two  principal  figures  are  Ixion 
and  his  son  Peirithoos.  Ixion’s  wife  was  Dia,  a  daughter 


232 


HEROES. 


of  Deioneus.  Previous  to  the  marriage  he  had  promised  her 
father,  according  to  ancient  usage,  many  valuable  presents, 
which  he  afterwards  refused  to  give.  Deioneus  endeavoured 
to  indemnify  himself,  but  in  the  course  of  the  attempt  per¬ 
ished  in  a  great  hole,  full  of  fire,  which  had  been  cunningly 
prepared  for  him  by  Ixion.  For  this — the  first  murder  of  a 
relation,  it  was  believed,  that  had  taken  place  in  the  world — • 
Ixion  was  punished  with  frenzy,  and  wandered  about,  unable 
to  obtain  expiation  from  gods  or  men,  till  at  last  Zeus  received 
him  compassionately,  and  purified  him.  But  the  purification 
was  not  so  complete  as  to  prevent  him  from  conceiving  a 
passion  for  the  goddess  Hera,  who,  knowing  his  desires,  de¬ 
ceived  him  with  a  cloud  shaped  like  herself.  From  this  union 
sprang  the  race  of  Centaurs.  Ixion,  being  blind  enough  to 
boast  of  his  supposed  success  with  Hera,  was  despatched  by 
Zeus  to  Tartaros,  and  there  bound  by  Hermes  to  a  winged 
wheel,  which  constantly  revolved,  as  an  eternal  example  of 
the  punishment  due  to  such  crime. 

The  same  passion  for  a  goddess  descended  to  his  son  Peiri- 
thoos,  who  tried  to  carry  off  Persephone  from  Hades,  for  which 
he  was  placed  in  chains  in  Tartaros.  But  the  event  on  which 
his  fame  chiefly  turns  was  his  marriage  with  Deidamia.  By 
his  invitation,  the  Centaurs  of  the  neighbouring  mountains 
went  to  the  banquet,  and,  being  unused  to  the  influence  of 
wine,  could  not  suppress  excitement.  The  wild  Eurytion 
laid  hold  of  the  bride,  his  fellows  rushed  towards  her  maidens, 
and  a  scene  of  grand  confusion  took  place ;  Peirithoos  and 
the  Lapithse,  with  the  help  of  his  friend  Theseus,  from 
Attica,  at  last  succeeding  in  driving  the  Centaurs  away. 

Of  Kaineus,  another  of  the  Lapithae,  it  is  related  that, 
having  been  originally  a  beautiful  virgin,  she  was  changed  into  a 


THRACE. 


233 


man  by  Poseidon,  and  made  invulnerable,  as  was  proved  in  a 
fight  with  the  Centaurs ;  for,  in  spite  of  the  rocks  and  trunks 
of  trees  which  they  struck  him  with,  and  heaped  above  him, 
he  remained  unwounded,  and  sank  into  the  earth  alive, — a 
scene  represented  in  several  ancient  works  of  sculpture  and 
vase-painting  still  in  existence. 

With  regard  to  the  Centaurs,  the  usual  form  in  which  they 
were  represented  was  that  of  the  body  and  legs  of  a  horse,  with 
the  head,  arms,  and  body  of  a  man  down  to  the  waist.  In 
early  works  of  art,  however,  they  have  the  legs  of  a  man  in 
place  of  the  forelegs  of  the  horse. 

Cheiron  seems  to  have  had  nothing  in  common  with  them 
but  his  form ;  for  he  was  wise  and  just,  well-meaning  and  kindly, 
a  friend  of  gods  and  heroes,  and  skilled  in  medicine,  music, 
and  various  arts.  The  young  Achilles  was  brought  up  under 
his  care  and  tuition,  in  the  cave  where  he  lived,  on  Mount 
Pelion.  So  also  were  Jason  and  Asklepios.  He  was  the 
friend  of  Peleus  and  of  Herakles,  and  his  death  was  an  exam¬ 
ple  of  the  self-sacrifice  which  had  characterized  his  life.  In 
trying  to  make  peace  between  Herakles  and  the  Centaurs,  he 
had  been  accidentally  hit  by  a  poisoned  arrow  from  the  bow 
of  Herakles.  The  wound  baffling  all  his  skill,  and  causing 
acute  pain,  he  offered  himself  to  die  in  the  room  of  Prometheus, 
and  was  accepted  by  the  gods. 

0.)  THRACE. 

The  burden  of  all  the  early  Thracian  legends  is  the  strange 
divine  influence  of  music  and  song.  Whether  the  passion  for 
music,  which  may  be  supposed  to  have  given  rise  to  the 
legends,  originated  among  the  ungenial  northern  hills  and 


234 


HEROES. 


valleys  of  Thrace,  or  whether,  as  is  supposed,  it  was  trans¬ 
planted  thither  by  immigrants  from  the  district  of  Pieria, 
with  its  ancient  fountain  of  the  Muses,  it  would  be  hard  to 
decide.  All  that  is  certain  is,  that  the  belief  concerning 
Orpheus,  the  principal  figure  in  these  legends,  was  common 
to  both  regions. 

Orpheus  was  regarded  as  a  son  of  the  muse  Kalliope  and  , 
the  god  Apollo.  From  his  mother  he  inherited  the  fascinating 
power  with  which  he  played  the  lyre  and  sang,  so  that  the 
birds  of  the  air,  the  fish  in  the  streams,  wild  beasts,  even  trees, 
rocks,  and  hills,  gathered  round  him  to  listen.  The  subject 
of  his  song  was  always  the  beautiful  Eurydike,  whom  he  had 
loved  and  lost.  She  had  died  through  the  poisoned  bite  of  a 
snake  that  lurked  in  the  grass  over  which  she  had  to  run  to 
escape  from  Aristaeos,  who  also  loved  her.  Her  sister  nymphs, 
accompanied  by  Orpheus,  wandered  over  the  hills  and  valleys, 
filling  the  air  with  plaintive  strains  to  call  her  back  again. 
Orpheus  carried  his  search  for  her  even  down  to  the  gloomy 
shades  of  the  lower  world,  the  sweetness  of  his  music  soothing 
the  monsters  and  wicked  spirits  that  dwell  there,  and  otherwise 
would  have  resisted  his  progress.  Even  the  hardened  hearts 
of  Persephone  and  the  merciless  Erinys  were  touched  by  his 
passionate  grief.  It  was  agreed  that  Eurydike  should  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  return  with  him  to  the  upper  world, — the  only  con¬ 
dition  attached  to  the  agreement  being  that  he  should  not  turn 
to  look  upon  her  face  all  the  way  back.  His  patience,  however, 
gave  way.  The  bargain  became  null,  and  Eurydike  must  in¬ 
stantly  retrace  her  steps,  and  be  lost  to  him  for  ever.  For  seven 
months  he  sat  in  doleful  mood  by  the  banks  of  the  river 
Strymon,  under  the  open  sky,  refusing  food  or  drink.  Then 
he  withdrew  to  the  higher  wintry  regions  of  the  mountains 


ORPHEUS. 


235 


Rhodope  and  Haemos,  to  nurse  his  sorrow  in  greater  solitude, 
but  was  discovered  by  a  band  of  Maenads  out  upon  some  wild 
Bacchic  mission,  and  torn  by  them  limb  from  limb.  The 
Muses,  ft  was  said,  gathering  the  limbs,  conveyed  them  to 
Pieria,  on  Mount  Olympos,  and  buried  them  there.  His  head 
and  lyre  floated  down  the  Hebros,  and  were  carried  by  the  sea, 
•  the  lyre  sounding  sweetly  with  the  swell  and  fall  of  the  waves, 
to  the  island  of  Lesbos,  celebrated  in  after  times  for  its  poets 
and  musicians.  There  the  head  was  buried,  and  nightingales 
sang  sweeter  beside  it  than  elsewhere  in  Greece.  But  in  Thrace 
also„a  tomb  was  pointed  out  as  being  that  of  Orpheus,  while 
a  sanctuary  was  established  in  his  honour. 

In  later  times  a  religious  system  with  mysterious  rites  and 
ceremonies,  said  to  have  been  instituted  by  Orpheus,  and  bear¬ 
ing  his  name,  was  widely  propagated  in  Greece.  It  may  be 
that  his  connection  with  the  worship  of  Dionysos,  referred  to 
in  the  legends  both  of  Pieria  and  Thrace,  was  regarded  as 
sufficient  warrant  for  associating  with  his  name  religious  in¬ 
stitutions  having  much  in  common  with  the  Dionysiac  myste¬ 
ries. 

It  is  said  that  Orpheus  accompanied  the  expedition  of  the 
Argonauts,  but  at  what  period  of  his  life  we  do  not  know. 

To  the  same  region  of  Thrace  belongs  the  legend  of  Tha- 
myris,  a  son  of  the  king  Philammon  and  the  nymph 
Argiope,  distinguished  for  his  personal  beauty  as  well  as  his 
minstrelsy.  He  was,  however,  inordinately  vain,  and  on  the 
occasion  of  a  visit  to  the  court  of  Eurytos,  at  Glchalia, 
boasted  himself  not  inferior  to  the  Muses  themselves,  the 
daughters  of  Zeus.  But  on  his  way  homeward  he  was  met  by 
them  ;  they  put  his  eyes  out,  and  took  away  his  power  of  song 
and  music. 


236 


HEROES. 


(/.)  ATTICA. 

The  people  of  Attica,  generally  speaking,  believed  that  their 
first  ancestors  had  sprung  from  the  earth,  and  by  some  process 
been  transformed  from  trees  or  rocks,  or  perhaps  from  animals, 
into  men  and  women.  The  change  was  not  supposed  to  have 
been  direct  and  instantaneous,  as  we  may  infer  from  the  form 
ascribed  to  Kekrops,  the  first  of  the  race,  which  was  that  of 
a  man  with  extremities  in  the  shape  of  snakes  in  place  of  hu¬ 
man  legs.  In  later  times  of  learned  speculation  this  Kekrops 
was  thought  to  have  been  an  immigrant  from  Egypt.  Proofs 
of  an  early  immigration  into  Attica  are  certainly  not  wanting, 
but  they  do  not  point  to  Egypt  as  the  source  of  it.  They 
point  to  Crete,  which  in  the  time  of  Minos  held  Attica,  as 
it  probably  held -other  places,  as  a  dependency. 

Kekrops  according  to  the  legend,  ruled  as  king  over  the 
primitive  race  of  Attica,  established  himself  on  the  Acropolis 
of  Athens,  and  gathered  a  township  round  him,  which  he 
called  Kekropia.  He  gave  his  people  laws,  and  taught  them 
to  worship  Zeus  and  Athene-Polias.  It  was  during  his  reign 
that  the  celebrated  contest  took  place  between  Poseidon  and 
Athene  for  the  control  of  Attica.  Kekrops  was  chosen  to  de¬ 
cide,  and,  arguing  that  the  sea  was  common  to  all,  while  the 
olive  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  soil  of  his  country,  gave 
his  decision  in  favour  of  the  goddess.  He  had  three  daugh¬ 
ters, — Herse,  Aglauros,  and  Pandrosos, — all  three  names 
apparently  referring  to  the  fertilizing  fall  of  dew.  The  last 
mentioned  was  the  first  priestess  of  Athene.  Of  the  other  two, 
Herse  became  the  mother  of  Keryx,  from  whom  the  priestly 
family  of  heralds  in  Attica  derived  their  lineage.  His  father 
was  Hermes,  the  divine  herald.  Aglauros  bore  a  daughter  to 


ATTICA. 


237 


the  god  Ares.  Her  name  was  Alkippe,  and  her  story,  that 
she  loved  Halirrhotios,  a  son  of  Poseidon,  and  was  slain  by 
Ares.  For  that  crime  a  court  called  the  Areopagus  was 
appointed  to  try  the  god,  and  continued  thereafter  to  sit  on 
cases  of  murder. 

The  successor  of  Kekrops  was  Erichthonios,  who  was 
described  as  being  altogether  of  the  form  of  a  snake.  He  was 
the  offspring  of  Hephaestos  and  Gaea,  was  the  fondling  of 
Athene,  and  when  he  obtained  the  throne  of  Attica,  taught  his 
people  to  worship  the  ancient  wooden  image  of  the  goddess, 
and  instituted  in  her  honour  the  famous  Panathenaic  games. 
The  story  of  his  infancy  was  that  Athene  handed  him  in  a 
closed  box  to  the  three  daughters  of  Kekrops,  with  orders  not 
to  open  it.  Two  of  the  sisters,  Herse  and  Aglauros,  yielded 
to  curiosity,  opened  the  box,  and  on  seeing  a  snake  within, 
were  seized  with  frantic  terror  and  threw  themselves  from  the 
rocks  of  the  Acropolis.  Erichthonios  was  brought  up  within 
the  sanctuary  of  the  goddess. 

Erichthonios  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Pandion,  and  he 
again  by  his  son  Erechtheus,  with  whom  the  dynasty  of  the 
line  of  Kekrops  came  to  an  end,  passing  over  to  Ion,  a  reputed 
son  of  Apollo,  and  the  ancestor  of  the  Ionian  race.  Erech¬ 
theus  and  all  his  family  perished  in  a  battle  against  Eumol- 
pos,  the  prince  of  Eleusis.  The  result  of  their  death,  however, 
was  that  the  old  strife  between  Attica  and  Eleusis  was  put  an 

m 

end  to,  and  the  two  kingdoms  united  in  one. 

Besides  his  son  Erechtheus,  Pandion  had  two  daughters, 
Prokne  and  Philomela,  of  whom  a  touching  story  is  told. 
It  would  seem  that  in  the  course  of  a  war  with  Labdakos  of 
Thebes,  Pandion  had  obtained  important  assistance  from 
Tereus,  a  king  of  Thrace,  and  for  this  offered  him  the  hand 


2  38 


HEROES. 


of  his  daughter  Prokne.  Afterwards  the  Thracian  desired  her 
sister  also,  and,  pretending  that  Prokne  was  dead,  obtained 
Philomela  as  his  wife.  To  prevent  the  former  from  revealing 
the  truth,  he  tore  out  her  tongue,  and  placed  her  in  a  cage  in  a 
wood.  But  his  end  was  not  thus  gained ;  for  Prokne  con¬ 
trived  to  send  her  sister  a  piece  of  drapery  on  which  she  had 
embroidered  a  representation  of  the  facts,  which  her  sister 
readily  understood.  The  two  sisters  then  combined  to  exe¬ 
cute  a  terrible  revenge  on  Tereus,  placing  the  flesh  of  his  son 
Itys,  whom  they  killed,  before  him  as  a  dish.  Tereus  drew 
his  sword,  and  pursued  the  sisters  till  all  three  were  changed 
into  birds — he  into  a  lapwing,  Prokne  into  a  swallow,  and 
Philomela  into  a  nightingale.  The  Latin  poets  reversed  the 
story  of  the  two  sisters,  saying  that  it  was  Philomela  whose 
tongue  was  cut  out,  their  object  being,  since  her  name  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  nightingale,  to  account  for  the  silence  of 
that  bird  except  in  the  springtime. 

The  Attic  legend  of  Boreas,  the  wind-god,  who  carried  off 
Oreithyia,  has  already  been  given,  as  has  also  that  of  Keph- 
alos  and  Prokris.  We  shall  therefore  pass  on  to  Ion,  who, 
when  the  male  line  of  Kekrops  had  become  extinct,  succeeded 
to  the  throne  of  Attica. 

Ion  was  a  son  of  Apollo  and  Kreusa,  a  daughter  of  Erech- 
theus,  and  at  his  birth  was  taken  away  from  his  mother,  who 
afterwards  married  Xuthos,  and  remained  childless.  Going 
to  Delphi  to  consult  the  oracle  about  their  prospects  of  pos¬ 
terity,  Xuthos  and  Kreusa  were  told  by  the  god  to  adopt  as 
their  son  the  first  youth  they  should  meet.  This  happened  to 
be  Ion,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  the  temple  of  Delphi, 
and  who,  agreeably  to  the  command  of  the  god,  was  adopted 
by  the  childless  pair. 


X 


CRETE.  239 

According  to  another  legend,  Pandion  was  driven  from 
Attica  by  the  sons  of  Metion,  and  took  refuge  with  Pylos, 
the  king  of  Megara,  where  he  found  and  adopted  ZEgeus,  who, 
after  Pandion’s  death,  advanced  upon  Attica,  and,  with  the 
assistance  of  his  brothers,  Pallas,  Nisos,  and  Lykos,  recovered 
the  kingdom  of  his  adopted  father,  reigned  in  Athens,  and 
became  the  father  of  the  renowned  hero,  Theseus,  whose 
exploits  we  shall  relate  hereafter. 

(£-.)  CRETE. 

The  position  of  the  island  of  Crete,  its  extent  and  fertility, 
appear  to  have  attracted  the  early  Phoenician  traders  to  its 
shores.  They  founded  the  towns  of  Knosos  and  Gortys,  and 
so  developed  the  resources  of  the  island  as  to  give  it  a  power¬ 
ful  ascendency  over  the  other  islands  of  the  Archipelago,  and 
extending  to  various  districts  of  the  mainland  of  Greece, 
including  Attica,  as  has  just  been  said.  They  introduced 
the  worship  of  Astarte  and  Moloch;  and  when,  generations 
afterwards,  the  island  had  become  completely  Hellenized, 
through  the  successive  immigrations  of  Achaeans  and  Dorians, 
there  were  still  found  current  among  the  people  legends  that 
could  only  be  explained  in  connection  with  the  religion  of 
the  Phoenicians.  Of  this  kind  were  the  legends  of  Talos, 
Itanos,  and  the  river  Jardanos.  The  Greek  immigrants 
settled  in  the  towns  that  had  been  planted  by  the  Phoenicians, 
adapting  themselves  to  existing  arrangements,  it  appears,  and 
accepting  the  ancient  traditions  of  the  island  as  a  basis  for 
legends  of  a  purely  Greek  construction. 

These  legends  commence  with  Europa,  whom  Zeus  saw 
and  loved  while  she  was  gathering  spring  buds  near  Sidon, 


240 


HEROES. 


where  her  father,  Agenor  (or  Phoenix,  as  some  said),  was  king. 
The  god,  transforming  himself  into  a  white  bull,  carried  her  off 
on  his  back  over  the  sea  towards  the  south  coast  of  Crete,  and 
landed  with  her  in  the  district  of  Gortys  and  Phsestos,  where 
Asterion  was  then  the  reigning  king.  Europa  gave  birth 
there  to  three  sons, — Minos,  Rhadamanthys,  and  Sarpe- 
don, — who  grew  up  under  the  care  of  Asterion,  to  whom 
Zeus  had  commended  their  mother.  How  familiar  the  people 
of  the  island  must  have  been  with  the  various  phases  of  this 
legend,  may  be  seen  from  the  ancient  coins  of  Gortys  and 
Phaestos,  with  their  representations,  now  of  a  bull  alone,  now 
of  Europa  riding  on  him,  and  at  other  times  of  Europa  seated 
among  the  branches  of  a  plane-tree. 

The  oldest  traditions  describe  Minos  as  ruling  the  island 
with  exemplary  justice,  extending  its  maritime  power  and  its 
supremacy  over  the  neighbouring  islands  and  countries.  He 
established  among  his  people  a  wise  system  of  laws,  which 
formed,  it  was  believed,  in  after  times,  the  basis  of  the  legis¬ 
lation  of  Lykurgos.  These  laws,  he  said,  were  communicated 
to  him  by  his  father,  Zeus,  with  whom  he  went  every  ninth 
year  to  hold  communion  in  a  sacred  cave  in  the  island. 
So  high  was  his  reputation  for  justice,  that  when  he  died, 
so  people  thought,  he  was  appointed  a  judge  in  the  lower 
world. 

The  wife  of  Minos  was  Pasiphae,  a  daughter  of  the  sun- 
god  Helios  and  Perseis.  It  is  necessary  to  bear  her  parent¬ 
age  in  mind  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  a  right  clue  to  the 
explanation  of  the  legend  concerning  her.  For,  as  a  daughter 
of  Helios  and  Perseis,  she  may  well  have  been  originally  a 
goddess  of  the  moon,  and  as  such  represented  under  the  form 
of  a  white  cow.  Her  name,  Pasiphae,  would  be  appropriate 


MINOS  AND  PASIPHAE. 


24I 


for  such  an  office.  She  bore  to  Minos  two  daughters — Ariad¬ 
ne  and  Phaedra — of  whom  more  will  be  told  hereafter. 

Minos,  it  was  said,  on  being  chosen  king  of  the  island, 
proceeded  to  the  sea-shore  to  offer,  in  presence  of  his  people, 
a  sacrifice  to  his  father,  Zeus,  calling  on  the  sea-god  Poseidon 
to  send  up  a  victim  for  that  purpose  from  the  sea.  Poseidon 
heard,  and  sent  a  shimmering  white  bull.  In  this  act  of 
,  compliance  on  the  part  of  the  sea-god,  Minos  perceived  that 
his  supremacy  at  sea  was  secured.  Instead,  however,  of  sac¬ 
rificing  the  white  bull,  he  placed  it  among  his  own  herd  which 
browsed  near  Gortys — a  herd  which  is  elsewhere  said  to  have 
belonged  to  the  sun-god.  Poseidon,  taking  offence  at  the 
deceit,  caused  the  bull  to  become  wild,  and  at  the  same  time 
inflamed  the  queen,  Pasiphae,  with  an  unnatural  desire  towards 
it.  The  bull  broke  from  his  stall,  and  was  pursued  by  Pasiphae 
over  hills  and  through  woods,  till  finally  the  great  artist 
Daedalos  succeeded  in  holding  him  to  the  meadow,  and  in 
satisfying  the  desires  of  the  queen,  who  afterwards  gave  birth 
to  Minotaur  os,  a  creature  with  the  body  and  limbs  of  a  man, 
and  the  head  of  a  bull.  Daedalos  had  now  to  employ  his  skill 
in  making  a  vast  labyrinth,  with  intricate  winding  passages, 
from  which  no  one  who  entered  could  find  his  way  out. 
Within  it  Minotauros  was  placed,  and  received  as  victims  the 
persons  sent  to  Minos  periodically  by  tributary  states.  Such 
tribute,  consisting  of  seven  boys  and  seven  girls  of  noble 
families,  Minos  had  levied  on  Athens  as  a  satisfaction  for  the 
murder  of  his  son  Androgeos  by  ZEgeus,  the  king  of  Attica. 
Every  eight  years  the  grievous  levy  was  despatched  to  Crete, 
till  Theseus,  the  son  of  ZEgeus,  put  an  end  to  it  in  a  manner 

which  we  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  relate. 

*  -  • 

Minos  met  his  death  at  Agrigentum,  in  Sicily,  whither  he 
16 


242 


HEROES. 


had  pursued  Daedalos,  who  had  escaped  from  the  labyrinth, 
into  which  he  and  his  son  Ikaros  had  been  thrown  for  making 
a  figure  of  a  cow  for  Pasiphae,  so  lifelike  as  to  be  mistaken  by 
the  herd.  He  had  escaped  by  means  of  wings  which  he  had 
made  for  himself  and  his  son.  The  latter  fell  into  the  sea,  and 
was  drowned,  while  his  father,  reaching  Sicily  in  safety,  was 
received  under  the  protection  of  King  Kokalos,  whose  daughter 
killed  Minos  by  pouring  boiling  water  on  his  head  while  he  was 
in  a  bath.  Minos  was  buried  there,  and  had  a  tomb  erected 
in  his  memory. 

On  the  coins  of  the  town  of  Phsestos  is  the  figure  of  a  youth, 
winged  and  nude,  rushing  with  great  strides,  and  holding  what 
appears  to  be  a  stone  in  each  hand.  This  figure  has  been 
identified  with  the  legends  of  Talos,  who  is  described  as 
having  been  made  of  bronze,  a  remnant  of  the  bronze  age,  or, 
as  others  said,  a  living  work  of  art  produced  by  Hephaestos. 
He  had  been  placed  in  Crete  by  Zeus,  to  watch  over  Europa, 
his  duty  being  to  run  round  the  island  three  times  a  day,  and 
see  who  landed  on  the  coast.  When  the  Argonauts  arrived, 
he  opposed  their  landing,  but  unsuccessfully ;  for  it  happened 
that  they  were  aware  of  the  fact  that,  though  apparently  alto¬ 
gether  made  of  bronze,  he  still  had  a  vein  reaching  from  neck 
to  heel,  and  containing  his  life-blood.  This  vein  Poeas,  the 
father  of  Philoktetes,  managed  to  hit  with  an  arrow  from  the 
famous  bow  of  Herakles.  Talos  fell,  and  died.  Others  said 
that  Medea,  who  accompanied  the  Argonauts,  overcame  him 
by  witchcraft.  It  had  been  the  practice  of  Talos,  when  he 
caught  any  one  landing  on  the  coast,  to  seize  his  victim  in  his 
arms,  to  leap  with  him  into  a  fire,  and  press  him  to  his  burning 
bosom,  the  while  laughing  at  the  pain.  This  was  the  origin 
of  the  phrase  “Sardonic  laughter.” 


PELOPS. 


243 


Though  the  appointment  of  Rhadamanthys  as  a  judge  in 
the  lower  world  was  said  to  have  been  due  to  the  sense  of  jus¬ 
tice  which  he  had  displayed  on  earth,  the  region  or  country 
that  benefited  by  his  decisions  is  not  given.  It  may  be  right 
to  assume  that  he  acted  with  his  brother  Minos  in  Crete. 
Sarpedon,  the  third  of  the  brothers,  passed  over  to  Lycia, 
and  there  became  the  founder  of  an  illustrious  line  of  heroes. 

0 i.)  ELIS  and  ARGOS. 

With  Pelops  commences  a  lineage  of  heroes  famous  in 
Elis  and  Argos  for  their  deeds  of  violence,  and  for  the  retribu¬ 
tion  that  awaited  them.  How  Niobe,  the  sister  of  Pelops,  was 
punished  for  her  pride,  we  have  already  seen.  What  his  father, 
Tantalos,  had  to  endure  in  Tartaros  has  also  been  described. 
Tantalos  had  ruled  his  kingdom  of  Phrygia,  in  Asia  Minor, 
well,  and  on  that  account  gained  the  esteem  of  the  gods,  who 
invited  him  to  a  banquet.  But  he  betrayed  their  secrets,  and,  to 
crown  all,  invited  them  to  a  feast,  at  which,  to  test  their  power 
of  knowing  all  things  that  happened,  he  set  before  them  the  flesh 
of  his  own  son  Pelops.  The  gods,  perceiving  the  outrageous 
attempt,  restored  the  child  to  life,  giving  him  in  place  of  the 
shoulder  that  had  been  eaten,  whether  by  Demeter  or  Thetis, 
a  shoulder  of  ivory.  His  father  was  despatched  to  Tartaros. 

When  Pelops  had  grown  to  manhood  under  the  care  of  the 
gods — especially  of  Poseidon,  from  whom  he  learned  his  skill 
in  managing  horses — he  resolved  to  win  Hippodameia,  the 
daughter  of  the  king  of  Elis,  CEnomaos,  a  son  of  Ares,  and 
the  owner  of  horses  swift  as  the  wind.  The  story  was  that 
CEnomaos  had  been  informed  by  an  oracle  that  his  death 
would  be  caused  by  the  husband  of  his  daughter.  Trusting  to 


244 


HEROES. 


the  extraordinary  speed  of  his  horses,  he  freely  offered  his 
daughter’s  hand  to  any  suitor  who  should  outstrip  him  in  a 
chariot  race.  Those  who  failed,  it  was  stipulated  in  the 
challenge,  should  perish  at  his  hands.  This  fate  had  befallen 
many  an  ardent  suitor  previous  to  the  arrival  of  Pelops,  who, 
with  a  golden  chariot  and  winged  horses,  given  him  by 
Poseidon,  won  the  race.  It  is  said,  however,  that  his  success 
was  rather  due  to  Hippodameia,  who  had  conceived  a  great 
love  for  the  youth,  and  gave  practical  effect  to  her  passion  by 
bribing  her  father’s  charioteer,  Myrtilos,  to  take  a  spoke  out 
of  his  master’s  wheel. 

With  the  hand  of  Hippodameia,  Pelops  obtained  the  throne 
of  Elis,  and  had,  among  other  children,  two  sons,  named 
Atreus  and  Thyestes.  He  established,  or  at  least  greatly 
promoted,  the  Olympian  games.  His  grave,  the  house  of 
(Enomaos,  and  other  monuments  of  his  excellent  rule,  were 
afterwards  gratefully  pointed  to  at  Olympia. 

Atreus  and  Thyestes,  having  slain  the  beautiful  young 
Chrysippos,  a  son  of  Pelops  and  a  nymph,  were  compelled  to 
leave  Elis.  They  found  refuge  in  Mykense,  establishing  them¬ 
selves  in  the  old  fort  of  Midea,  until  the  death  of  Eurystheus, 
when  Atreus  obtained  the  government  of  Mykense,  the  ruins 
of  ‘which  still  attest  the  power  of  its  ancient  kings.  Atreus 
married  a  daughter  of  Minos — H£rope — who  allowed  herself 
to  listen  to  proposals  from  Thyestes,  and  assisted  him  to  carry 
off  the  ram  with  the  golden  fleece,  the  possession  of  which  was 
supposed  to  secure  the  government  of  the  country.  But  Zeus 
interfered  in  the  cause  of  Atreus,  the  elder  of  the  brothers, 
and,  as  a  sign  of  his  will,  caused  the  sun  to  rise  in  the  west. 
Thyestes  returned  to  his  brother’s  house,  asking  to  be  forgiven, 
and  was  received  with  an  appearance  of  good-will.  Instead 


HERAKLES. 


245 


of  being  forgiven,  however,  he  was  presented,  on  sitting  down 
to  eat,  with  the  flesh  of  his  own  son.  Thyestes  fled  in  horror, 
and  thereupon  famine  stalked  over  the  land.  On  consulting  an 
oracle  with  regard  to  the  famine,  Atreus  was  told  to  find 
Thyestes,  and  take  him  back.  He  did  so,  and  moreover 
placed  him  in  confinement  in  Argos,  at  the  same  time  trying 
to  persuade  Higisthos,  the  son  of  Thyestes,  to  kill  his  father. 
But  events  took  a  different  course,  Thyestes  preferring  to  make 
a  victim  of  Atreus.  On  the  death  of  Atreus,  Agamemnon 
succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Argos,  and  his  brother  Menelaos 
to  that  of  Sparta.  Of  these  two  brothers  more  shall  be  said 
in  connection  with  the  war  against  Troy. 

HERAKLES. 

(plate  XXX.) 

Though  regarded  sometimes  as  a  god,  and  honoured  in  the 
way  appointed  for  immortals,  it  was  chiefly  as  the  hero  of  a 
long  series  of  arduous  labours,  difficulties  apparently  insur¬ 
mountable,  and  sufferings,  that  Herakles  obtained  the  numer¬ 
ous  honours  paid  to  his  memory  throughout  Greece.  In  the 
gymnasia,  where  the  youth  of  every  town  were  instructed  in 
athletic  exercises,  the  statue  of  Herakles  was  pointed  to  as  a 
model  of  what  a  perfect  athlete  should  be ;  while  the  tales  of 
his  wrestling  with  this  or  that  giant  were  repeated  as  examples 
of  fearlessness  and  extraordinary  strength.  Soldiers  going  to 
battle  thought  of  his  fatigues  and  ultimate  triumphs.  Labour¬ 
ers  oppressed  by  toil  relieved  their  sorrows  by  recalling  the 
laborious  incidents  of  his  life.  Even  the  Athenians  valued  the 
rugged,  stubborn  endurance  of  Herakles  higher  than  the  lithe¬ 
ness  and  more  perfect  form  of  their  own  Theseus.  So  far. 


246 


HEROES. 


Herakles  was  looked  upon  merely  as  an  example  of  extraordi¬ 
nary  physical  strength  and  patient  toiling  to  the  end;  but  in 
later  times  he  came  also  to  be  held  up  as  an  ideal  of  Virtue 
?~nd  duty,  in  which  capacity  a  story  invented  by  the  sophist 
Prodikos  concerning  him,  found  great  applause.  That  story 
was  entitled  “  The  Choice  of  Herakles,”  and  represented  him 
as  being  met  at  a  crossway,  while  yet  a  youth,  by  two  figures 
— Pleasure  and  Duty — the  one  promising  him  all  possible  en¬ 
joyments,  the  other  a  life  of  labour  and  trouble,  if  he  would 
follow  her.  He  chose  to  follow  Duty. 

According  to  the  genealogy,  Herakles  was  a  son  of  Zeus 
and  Alkmene,  the  wife  of  Amphitryon,  a  descendant  of 
Perseus,  and  resident  in  Thebes.  On  the  day  on  which  he 
was  to  have  been  born,  Hera,  to  whose  persecution  all  the 
labours  and  sufferings  of  Herakles  in  after  life  were  due,  ob¬ 
tained  from  Zeus,  in  presence  of  the  assembled  gods,  a  vow 
that  the  boy  to  be  born  on  that  day  should  have  power  and 
dominion  over  all  that  dwelt  about  him.  Hastening  to  Argos, 
she  lent  a  helping  hand  to  the  wife  of  Sthenelos,  and  enabled 
her  to  give  birth  to  Eurystheus,  a  weakly  seven-months'  child. 
Meantime  she  had  delayed  the  birth  of  Herakles,  who,  in 
consequence,  became  the  subject  of  Eurystheus.  With  all 
this  hostility  on  the  part  of  Hera,  it  is  curious  to  compare  a 
scene  which  not  unfrequently  occurs  on  ancient  painted  vases, 
representing  Hera  sucking  the  infant  Herakles.  The  story 
was  that  Hermes,  at  the  command  of  Zeus,  had  carried  the 
newly-born  child  to  Olympos,  and  put  it  to  Hera’s  breast, 
without  her  knowing  whose  child  it  was.  From  this  divine 
milk  Herakles  drew  his  godlike  strength,  the  first  promise  of 
which  was  given  soon  after  his  birth,  by  his  strangling  the 
serpent  sent  by  Hera  to  kill  him. 


HERAKLES. 


247 


His  youth  was  spent  under  the  instruction  of  the  most  cele¬ 
brated  heroes  of  the  day,  the  wise  Rhadamanthys  teaching 
him  to  be  wise  and  virtuous,  and  Linos  the  practice  of  music. 
Unluckily,  Linos  had  to  punish  him  for  some  neglect,  and  in 
doing  so  enraged  the  boy  so  much,  that  he  turned  and  slew  his 
master.  For  this  Amphitryon  carried  his  son  away  to  the 
hills,  and  left  him  under  the  care  of  herdsmen,  with  whom, 
like  Romulus,  or  Amphion  and  Zethos,  he  enjoyed  a  wild  life 
of  hunting  and  exposure  to  climate,  his  limbs  growing  to  enor¬ 
mous  size,  and  his  eyes  sparkling  with  unusual  fire.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  slew  an  enormous  lion  that  infested  Mount 
Kithaeron,  destroying  the  flocks  of  his  father,  Amphitryon,  and 
of  Thespios,  the  king  of  Thespiae.  Returning  to  Thebes  from 
the  lion-hunt,  and  wearing  its  skin  hanging  from  his  shoulders 
as  a  sign  of  his  success,  he  met  the  heralds  of  the  king  of  the 
Minyae,  coming  from  Orchomenos  to  claim  the  annual  tribute 
of  a  hundred  cattle  levied  on  Thebes.  Herakles  cut  off  the 
ears  and  noses  of  the  heralds,  bound  their  hands,  and  sent 
them  home.  A  war  followed,  in  which  Amphitryon  and  his 
two  sons,  Herakles  and  Iphikles,  did  wonders  on  the  part  of 
Thebes,  and  were  duly  honoured  for  the  same. 

But  the  part  taken  by  Herakles  in  that  war  was  the  last  act 
of  his  own  free  will ;  for  Hera,  annoyed  at  the  fast-rising  fame 
of  the  young  hero,  persuaded  E&rystheus  to  exercise  the  au¬ 
thority  given  him  at  his  birth  by  Zeus,  and  to  call  on  Hera¬ 
kles  to  enter  his  service.  Herakles  inquired  at  the  Delphic 
oracle  whether  it  was  possible  to  escape  the  summons,  but  was 
told  in  reply  that  he  must  carry  out  successfully  twelve  tasks 
to  be  imposed  on  him  by  Eurystheus,  and  that,  having  done 
so,  he  would  be  reckoned  among  the  number  of  immor¬ 
tals.  With  this  answer  in  his  mind,  he  presented  himself  to 


248 


HEROES. 


Eurystheus  at  Mykense,  and  commenced  the  serious  labour 
of  life. 


The  Twelve  Labours  of  Herakles. 

It  may  be,  as  has  been  often  suggested,  that  the  legend  of 
the  labours  of  Herakles,  like  those  of  Perseus  in  the  service  of 
Polydektes,  or  of  Bellerophon  in  that  of  the  Lycian  king,  or 
of  Siegfried  in  that  of  the  king  of  Burgundy,  was  intended  to 
convey  an  illustration  of  the  course  and  operations  of  the  sun. 
His  first  labours  are  performed  near  home,  the  distance  from 
which  increases  with  each  new  labour  that  is  imposed,  till  at 
last,  after  carrying  off  the  golden  apples  of  the  Hesperides  in 
the  remote  west,  he  descends  to  the  lower  world,  and  brings 
back  with  him  the  hated  dog  Cerberus.  In  later  times  the 
twelve  labours  were  openly  brought  into  connection  with  the 
twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac.  It  is,  however,  more  likely  that, 
originally,  this  number  had  no  more  signification  than  in  the 
case  of  the  twelve  higher  deities  of  Olympos,  that  it  was 
adopted  by  the  poets,  such  as  Pisander  and  Stesichoros,  who 
first  made  these  labours  their  theme,  and  that  through  their 
influence  it  became  stereotyped  both  in  poetry  and  art.  In 
Homer,  though  the  labours  are  known,  there  is  no  mention 
of  their  number.  In  the  Iliad  (v.  395)  Herakles  is  the  hero 
whose  unerring  arrows  wounded  Hera  and  Hades.  In  the 
Odyssey  (viii.  224)  Herakles  and  Eurytos  are  described  as 
the  most  celebrated  marksfnen  of  bygone  times ;  and  in  early 
works  of  art,  it  is  his  character  as  a  bowman  that  is  principally 
represented.  But  after  the  time  of  Pisander  and  Stesichoros, 
a  change  is  introduced.  The  club  becomes  his  favourite  wea¬ 
pon  ;  and  instead  of  a  linen  garment  wrapped  round  his  loins. 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


249 


he  now  appears  either  carrying  the  skin  of  the  Nemean  lion 
over  his  arm,  or  wearing  it  hanging  down  his  back — the  skin 
of  its  head  fitting  to  his  crown  like  a  cap,  and  the  fore-legs 
knotted  under  his  chin. 

1.  The  Nemean  lion ,  the  offspring  of  Typhon  and  Echidna, 
had  been  sent  by  Hera  to  devastate  the  neighbourhood  of 
Nemea,  and  had  succeeded,  to  the  horror  of  the  natives.  What 
made  the  matter  worse,  was  that  the  plain  of  Nemea  was  sacred 
to  Zeus.  The  lion  was  known  to  be  invulnerable, — proof  even 
against  the  arrows  of  Herakles.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to 
adopt  novel  means  for  its  destruction.  Herakles  entered  the 
cave  where  its  lair  was,  closed  the  entrance  behind  him,  and  at 
once  grappling  the  monster  in  his  arms  strangled  it.  The  skin 
he  tore  off  with  his  fingers,  and,  knowing  it  to  be  impenetrable, 
resolved  to  wear  it  henceforth  in  his  own  defence.  To  the 
legend  as  it  thus  stands  was  added,  by  the  Alexandrian  and 
Roman  poets,  the  story  of  Molorchos,  a  native  of  the  district, 
on  whom  Herakles  called  on  his  way  to  the  cave,  and  who, 
when  about  to  kill  his  only  goat  to  make  a  feast  for  his  guest, 
was  told  by  the  hero  to  desist  and  to  wait  his  return.  It 
was  arranged  that  should  he  not  return  within  thirty  days 
Molorchos  was  to  sacrifice  to  him  as  to  a  dead  person.  The 
thirty  days  had  just  elapsed  when  Herakles  returned  and  found 
his  friend  in  the  act  of  preparing  the  sacrifice.  It  is  possible 
that  the  thirty  days  may  refer  to  the  period  of  greatest  heat 
in  summer,  when  the  lion  and  dog  are  ascendant. 

2.  The  L  erne  an  hydra,  also  the  offspring  of  Typhon  and 

Echidna,  and  sent  by  Hera.  Herakles  killed  it  with  his  sword, 

* 

being  assisted  in  the  enterprise  by  Iolaos  and  Athene.  The 
legend  is  given  more  fully  by  Apollodorus,  whose  version, 
though  late,  is  proved  to  have  been  founded  on  an  earlier  form 


JL 


HEROES. 


250 


of  it  by  the  remains  of  poetry  and  art  of  high  antiquity.  The 
hydra  was  a  monster  with  nine  heads,  of  which  eight  were  mor¬ 
tal  and  the  ninth  invulnerable.  It  lived  in  the  marshy  ground 

m 

beside  the  fountain  of  Amymone,  and  even  the  smell  which 
spread  from  its  poison  was  fatal  to  any  one  who  passed  near  it. 
Herakles  arrived  at  the  spot  in  a  chariot,  attended  by  Iolaos, 
and  succeeded  in  driving  the  hydra  from  its  hole  by  firing  his 
arrows  in  upon  it.  The  fight  began,  and  Herakles  found  that 
for  every  head  of  it  which  he  cut  two  fresh  heads  started  up, 
and  to  increase  the  difficulty  a  huge  crab  came  and  seized  him 
by  the  heel.  It  was  necessary  to  try  another  form  of  attack. 
Herakles  ordered  Iolaos  to  set  the  neighbouring  wood  on  fire 
and  to  fetch  him  a  brand  from  it ;  with  the  brand  so  obtained 
he  proceeded,  the  moment  he  had  cut  off  a  head,  to  burn  it 
up,  and  in  this  way  destroying  them  one  by  one,  he  at  last 
came  to  the  invulnerable  head,  cut  it  off  also,  and  buried  it 
under  a  huge  rock.  He  dipped  his  arrows  in  the  poison  of  the 
hydra.  When  his  success  was  reported  to  Eurystheus,  the  lat¬ 
ter  refused  to  reckon  it  as  one  of  the  labours,  on  the  ground 
that  Iolaos  had  rendered  assistance.  The  interpretation  of  the 
legend  is  that  the  hydra  or  water-snake  is  a  symbol  of  the 
horrors  of  a  marshy  district,  and  that  its  poison,  with  its  fatal 
smell,  represents  the  miasma  which  arises  from  such  districts. 

3.  The  Erymanthian  boar ,  like  the  Keryneian  stag  and  the 
Stymphalian  Birds,  carries  us  to  a  mountainous  and  wild  rustic 
scene.  Its  haunt  was  on  Mount  Erymanthos,  in  the  north  of 
Arcadia.  But  the  name  of  Erymanthos  was  also  applied  to  a 
stream  which  flowed  down  the  mountain  side ;  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  wild  boar  was  only  a  legendary  illustration 
of  the  ravages  produced  in  winter  and  early  spring  by  the 
descent  of  this  river  with  swollen  torrents.  The  orders  of 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


251 


Eurystheus  were  that  the  boar  should  be  brought  back  alive 
to  Mykenae ;  but  at  the  sight  of  Herakles  returning  with  it 
alive  on  his  shoulders,  fear  took  possession  of  the  king,  and 
he  hid  himself  in  a  large  bronze  vessel,  into  which  Herakles, 
as  frequently  represented  on  ancient  vases,  proceeded  to  put 
the  boar,  as  the  safest  possible  place.  The  consternation  of 
Eurystheus  may  be  imagined.  In  connection  with  the  cap¬ 
ture  of  the  boar  is  told  the  story  of  a  visit  which  Herakles 
paid  on  his  way  to  the  Centaur,  Pholos,  who  lived  in  a  cave 
on  Mount  Pholoe.  The  hero  was  hungry,  and  Pholos  gave 
him  to  eat.  He  was  also  thirsty,  and  required  some  wine. 
Now  Pholos  had  at  hand  a  large  vase  full  of  choice  wine,  but 
it  was  the  common  property  of  the  Centaurs  who  lived  in 
other  parts  of  the  mountain.  On  the  other  hand  the  wine 
had  been  a  present  from  Dionysos,  and  had  been  accompanied 
with  the  command  that  it  should  not  be  opened  till  his  good 
friend  Herakles  arrived.  Pholos  accordingly  had  no  hesita¬ 
tion  in  tapping  the  vase,  and  both  drank  freely  from  it.  The 
strong  aroma  of  the  wine,  however,  reached  the  nostrils  of  the 
other  Centaurs,  who  now  flocked  towards  the  cave  of  Pholos 
in  wild  confusion,  armed  with  pine  branches,  rocks,  axes,  and 
torches,  and  fell  upon  Herakles.  A  violent  fight  ensued,  in 
which  Herakles,  besides  with  superior  numbers,  had  also  to 
contend  with  the  disadvantages  of  a  flood  of  water  sent  by  the 
clouds,  who  were  the  mothers  of  the  Centaurs.  Ultimately  he 
succeeded  in  wounding  many,  and  dispersing  the  others  into 
the  woods, — the  only  melancholy  part  of  the  issue  being  that 
his  friend  Pholos  lost  his  life,  under  circumstances  which  re¬ 
mind  us  of  the  death  of  that  other  kindly  Centaur,  Chiron, 
who  lived  on  Mount  Pelion,  and  brought  up  Achilles.  Pholos 
was  stooping  over  a  Centaur  who  had  fallen  by  an  arrow  from 


252 


HEROES. 


Herakles,  and  after  drawing  out  the  arrow,  was  wondering 
how^so  small  a  thing  could  produce  such  an  effect,  when  it 
fell  from  his  hands,  and  striking  severely  on  his  foot,  its  poison 
entered  his  body  and  he  died.  The  legend  appears  to  have 
been  popular  both  with  poets  and  vase  painters. 

4.  The  Kerytieian  stag ,  an  animal  of  wonderful  fleetness, 
with  antlers  of  gold  and  hoofs  of  brass,  was  sacred  to  Artemis, 
to  whom  it  had  been  dedicated  by  Taygete,  one  of  the 
Pleiads.  It  took  its  name  from  the  hill  and  hunting  district 
of  Keryneia,  on  the  borders  of  Arcadia  and  Achaia;  at  other 
times  it  was  called  the  Msenalian  stag.  The  task  imposed  on 
Herakles  was  to  capture  and  bring  it  back  alive.  The  chase 
lasted  for  a  whole  year,  Herakles  pursuing  it  over  hills  and 
plains,  ravines  and  meadows,  on  to  the  Hyperborean  region, 
and  thence  back  to  where  it  had  started  among  the  Arcadian 
hills.  It  sought  shelter  in  the  sanctuary  of  Artemis,  but  being 
dislodged  was  overtaken  by  Herakles  at  the  banks  of  the  river 
Ladon.  He  would  have  slain  it  had  not  Apollo  and  Artemis 
appeared  on  the  scene.  The  stag  running  a  whole  year  on  to  the 
regions  of  the  Hyperboreans,  and  thence  returning  to  where 
it  had  set  out,  appears  to  be  a  mythical  illustration  of  the 
course  of  the  moon,  and  may  be  compared  with  the  much 
simpler  story  of  the  huntress  Arge — the  “  shimmering  being” 
who  pursued  a  stag,  crying  out,  “I  will  catch  you  should 
your  speed  equal  that  of  Helios;”  for  which  boast  the  angry 
god  transformed  her  into  a  deer. 

5.  The  Stamphalian  birds.  The  vale  of  Stamphalos,  lying 
among  the  mountains  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  constantly  ex¬ 
posed  to  the  floods  and  storms  of  winter,  was  described  in  a 
mythical  form  as  being  subject  to  the  ravages  of  a  numberless 
flock  of  birds,  which,  with  their  iron  talons  and  feathers  sharp 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


253 


as  arrows,  delighted  in  human  flesh.  From  the  description 
of  the  figures  of  some  of  them,  which  were  preserved  in  the 
sanctuary  of  Artemis,  it  appears  that  they  resembled  in  form 
the  Harpys,  and  like  them,  too,  they  were,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe,  symbols  of  the  cold,  destructive- storms  of 
winter.  To  get  rid  of  them,  Herakles  first  raised  an  alarm  by 
ringing  a  large  bell ;  and  when  the  birds  came  out  from  the 
thick  wood  where  their  nests  were,  many  were  shot  down  by 
his  arrows,  and  the  rest  flew  away  in  fright.  They  flew,  as  it 
appears  from  the  story  of  the  Argonauts,  to  an  island,  sacred 
to  Ares,  in  the  inhospitable  Black  Sea,  where  the  Argonauts 
suffered  severely  from  the  heavy  falls  of  their  sharp  biting 
feathers,  and  only  obtained  relief  by  again  frightening  them 
by  raising  a  great  din.  As  the  birds  flew  over  the  sea  their 
feathers  fell  like  a  thick  snow-storm,  the  flakes  of  which,  it 
should  be  remembered,  are  frequently  in  the  legends  of  other 
peoples  compared  with  feathers.  Herakles,  as  a  hero  repre¬ 
senting  the  influence  of  the  sun,  was  very  properly  called  in 
by  the  myth-makers  to  destroy  beings  of  this  kind,  more 
especially  as  in  the  neighbouring  district  of  Pheneos  he  had 
long  been  regarded  as  a  beneficent  hero.  The  statement  of 
his  having  alarmed  the  birds  by  ringing  a  bell  may  have  been 
suggested  by  a  common  practice  of  raising  birds  from  their 
nests.  At  the  same  time  it  may  also  refer  to  a  custom  .which 
is  known  at  any  rate  in  more  recent  times — that  of  ringing 
bells  during  severe  storms,  from  a  belief  that  such  a  proceed¬ 
ing  availed  against  all  evil  spirits  of  the  air. 

6.  The  Augeian  stables.  Augeias,  the  rich  prince  of  Elis, 
and  his  daughter  Agamede,  the  sorceress  who  knew  the  potency 
of  all  the  herbs  in  the  world,  were  known  to  the  author  of  the 
Iliad  (xi.  701,  739).  His  seat  was  at  Ephyro,  a  name  which 


254 


HEROES. 


occurs  in  connection  with  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  powers, 
while  Augeias  itself  means  “  a  being  of  streaming  light.”  Light 
streamed  from  his  eyes,  and  it  was  said  expressly  that  he  was  a 
son  of  Helios.  His  daughter  Agamede  is  obviously  identical 
in  character  with  Dirke,  Medea,  and  Megamede,  all  of  whom 
represented  by  their  witchcraft  the  occult  powers  of  the  moon. 
Another  feature  of  the  story,  which  confirms  the  opinion  that 
Augeias  in  some  way  was  intended  to  illustrate  the  phenomena 
of  the  sun’s  light,  is  his  possession  of  herds  of  lambs  and 
cattle,  fabulous  in  numbers  as  are  the  fleecy  clouds,  and  in¬ 
cluding  twelve  bulls,  white  as  swans,  and  sacred  to  HelTos — 
one  of  them  being  called  Phsethon,  and  described  as  glittering 
like  a  star.  The  court  of  Augeias  was  by  the  banks  of  the 
river  Menios,  and  the  task  assigned  to  Herakles  was  to  clear 
out  his  endless  line  of  stalls  alone  and  in  one  day.  To  ac¬ 
complish  this,  the  hero  made  an  opening  through  the  wall  at 
a  part  where  the  river  approached  it.  The  stream,  rushing 
in  at  the  opening,  swept  with  it,  as  it  flowed  along  the  stables, 
their  accumulated  dung.  Augeias  had  promised  to  reward 
Herakles  with  a  tenth  of  his  herds  ;  but  declined  to  fulfil  his 
agreement  on  hearing  that  the  task  had  been  imposed  by 
Eurystheus.  This  refusal  afterwards  led  to  a  war  between 
Herakles  and  Elis. 

7.  The  Cretan  bull  had  been  presented  by  Poseidon  to 
Minos,  and  by  him  placed  among  the  herd  of  cattle  sacred  to 
the  sun.  How  it  became  wild,  and  how  Pasiphae,  the  wife  of 
Minos,  conceiving  a  passion  for  it,  followed  it  over  the  island, 
has  been  told  in  connection  with  the  legends  of  Crete.  The 
task  imposed  on  Herakles  was  to  bring  this  bull  to  Mykense. 
The  first  difficulty  was  to  capture  and  subdue  it,  an  act  in 
which  he  is  frequently  represented  on  the  painted  vases.  The 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


255 


second  was  to  bring  it  over  the  sea  to  Mykenae,  which  he  did 
by  sitting  on  its  back  while  it  swam,  as  did  Europa  with  Zeus, 
in  the  shape  of  a  bull.  As  to  the  fate  of  the  bull,  it  is  said 
that  Eurystheus  sacrificed  it  to  Hera,  and,  again,  that  it 
escaped,  roved  wildly  over  the  Peloponnesus,  and  was  finally 
captured  at  Marathon  by  Theseus. 

8.  The  horses  of  Diomedes ,  a  king  of  Thrace,  and  reputed 
to  have  been  a  son  of  Ares,  the  god  of  war  and  the  personifi¬ 
cation  of  storm.  Like  the  people  whom  he  ruled,  Diomedes 

was  fierce  in  war.  His  seat  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of 

♦ 

Abdera,  where  in  later  times  the  remains  of  his  citadel  was 
pointed  out.  He  was  the  owner  of  certain  horses  which  fed 
on  human  flesh,  and  by  that  means  became  furious  and  so 
powerful  that  they  had  to  be  fastened  with  iron  chains.  The 
human  flesh  on  which  they  fed  was  generally  that  of  persons 
who  had  been  wrecked  on  that  inhospitable  coast.  Herakles 
was  ordered  to  bring  these  horses  to  Mykenae.  To  Abdera 
he  went  by  sea ;  and  on  arriving  overpowered  the  guards,  and 
led  the  horses  away  to  the  shore,  when  he  was  overtaken  by  a 
crowd  of  the  subjects  of  Diomedes.  A  terrible  fight  ensued, 
in  which  the  king  fell  at  the  hands  of  Herakles,  and  was  him¬ 
self  given  as  food  for  his  horses.  In  the  course  of  the  combat, 
Abderos,  a  beautiful  youth,  of  whom  Herakles  was  very  fond, 
fell :  and  in  his  honour  the  hero  raised  a  mound,  and  insti¬ 
tuted  games  in  his  honour,  which  the  people  of  Abdera  after¬ 
wards  continued  annually.  After  the  horses  had  been  conveyed 
to  Mykenae  and  presented  to  Eurystheus,  it  is  said  that  they 
escaped  among  the  hills  of  Arcadia,  and  were  there  ultimately 
devoured  by  wild  beasts — probably  by  the  wolves  of  Zeus 
Lykaeos.  Their  allegorical  signification  is  clearly  that  of 
storms  and  billows,  and  hence  the  legend  was  located  in 


256 


HEROES. 


Thrace,  a  country  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  connection 
with  other  personifications  of  storm — such  as  Ares,  Lykurgos, 
and  Boreas. 

9.  The  girdle  of  Hippolyte,  the  queen  of  the  Amazons,  had 
been  a  gift  from  Ares,  and  was  a  symbol  of  the  power  of  a 
rushing  headlong  storm.  The  task  imposed  on  Herakles  was 
to  fetch  this  girdle  for  Admete,  the  daughter  of  Eurystheus, 
of  whom  we  learn  elsewhere  that  she  was  a  priestess  of  the 
Argive  Hera.  Herakles  slew  the  Amazon,  and  returned  with 
the  girdle.  From  this  adventure  appears  to  have  arisen  the 
legend  of  a  war  conducted  by  Herakles  against  the  Amazons. 

10.  The  cattle  of  Geryo?i  or  Geryoneus,  who  was  a  son  of 
Chrysaor  and  the  Okeanide  nymph  Kallirrhoe.  In  one  person 
he  had  three  bodies,  three  heads,  three  pairs  of  legs,  and  six 
arms.  He  was  gigantic  in  size,  heavily  armed,  powerful,  and 
provided  with  wings.  The  great  point  of  his  character  was 
that  he  was  the  lord  of  immense  herds  of  cattle.  Considering 
that  the  possession  of  herds  of  cattle  was  also  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  character  of  Apollo  and  Helios,  in  whose  case 
the  cattle  represented  the  days  of  the  year,  and  considering 
further  that  the  local  habitation  of  Geryon,  though  assigned  to 
various  localities,  is  always  assigned  to  a  place  in  some  way 
connected  with  the  worship  of  Helios,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
Geryon  also  was  an  illustration  of  some  of  the  phenomena  of 
the  sky ;  and  of  these  phenomena  none  but  those  of  wintry 
storms  correspond  with  his  personal  appearance  and  vehemence. 
Geryon  keeps  his  cattle  at  night  in  a  dark  cave  in  the  remote 
west,  into  which  Herakles  penetrates,  and  drives  them  away 
eastward  towards  the  region  of  morning  light.  The  expedition 
had  three  stages :  first,  the  journey  to  Erytheia,  where  Geryon 
lived,  and  which,  judged  by  the  meaning  of  its  name,  seems 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


257 


to  be  connected  with  the  red  glow  of  sunset ;  secondly,  the 
contest  with  Geryon ;  and,  thirdly,  the  return  to  Mykense  with 
the  cattle.  Erytheia  was  an  island  somewhere  in  the  remote 
west,  beyond  the  pillars  of  Herakles ;  and  to  reach  it  the  hero 
employed  a  vessel,  obtained,  some  said,  from  Nereus,  while 
others  believed  that  he  had  compelled  Helios  to  lend  him  for 
the  occasion  the  cup  or  vessel  in  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
sail  every  night  round  the  world  from  west  to  east.  On  the 
passage  Herakles  was  alarmed,  or  at  any  rate  disturbed,  by  a 
storm,  which  was  only  appeased  by  his  drawing  his  bow  on 
Okeanos.  Reaching  the  island,  he  placed  himself  on  Mount 
Abas,  but  was  observed  by  the  two-headed  dog  of  Geryon,  and 
attacked  by  it.  He  slew  the  dog,  and  was  next  attacked  by  the 
herdsman  Eurytion,  who  also  fell  at  his  hands.  Then  Meno- 
itios,  who  was  there  watching  the  cattle  of  Helios,  pointed  out 
to  him  the  cattle  of  Geryon,  grazing  in  a  meadow  by  the  river’s 
side.  He  was  in  the  act  of  driving  them  away,  when  Geryon 
himself,  in  all  his  strength  and  fierceness,  appeared  on  the  scene. 
The  combat  was  ended  by  a  fatal  shaft  from  Herakles.  Ship¬ 
ping  the  cattle  into  the  vessel  of  the  sun,  and  landing  them 
safely,  Herakles  commenced  his  homeward  journey  on  foot, 
through  Iberia,  Gaul,  over  the  Alps,  and  down  through  Italy, 
with  many  adventures,  in  all  of  which  he  was  successful.  At 
Rome  occurred  the  incident  with  the  robber  Cacous,  which  the 
Romans  incorporated  among  their  national  legends,  though 
the  elements  of  it  were  obviously  of  a  Greek  origin.  At  the 
Phlegraean  fields,  near  Cumse,  he  fought  the  Giants.  On  the 
mountains  between  Rhegium  and  Locri,  his  rest  was  disturbed 
by  the  noise  of  the  grasshoppers,  and  at  his  prayer  the  gods 
removed  these  creatures  from  the  district  for  ever.  From  the 
south  of  Italy  one  of  his  bulls  escaped  across  the  sea  to  Sicily, 
*7 


258 


HEROES. 


and  as  it  was  necessary  to  follow  it,  Herakles,  holding  on  by 
the  horns  of  another  bull,  crossed  with  his  herd  to  that  island, 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  which  he  appears  to  have 
wandered,  encountering  giants  like  Eryx,  experiencing  kind¬ 
ness  from  the  nymphs  of  Himera  and  Egesta,  at  whose  warm 
springs  he  was  refreshed,  and  everywhere  leaving  reminiscences 
of  his  visit.  Thence  he  passed  up  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic, 
round  by  Illyria  and  Epirus  to  Ambracia,  where  a  gadfly,  sent 
by  Hera,  caused  his  cattle  to  run  away  in  great  numbers  to  the 
mountains.  With  the  remainder  he  reached  the  Hellespont, 
and  thence  proceeded  to  Mykenae,  where  Eurystheus  sacrified 
them  to  the  goddess  Hera. 

11.  The  apples  of  the  Hesperides.  According  to  later  story, 
the  last  labour  imposed  on  Herakles  was  to  procure  three  of 
the  golden  apples  which  grew  in  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides ; 
and  hence  in  works  of  art  which  represent  him  as  invictus ,  the 
invincible,  he  appears  holding  the  apples  in  his  hand.  As  in 
the  case  of  the  cattle  of  Geryon,  here  also  the  chief  interest  of 
the  legend  resides  in  the  adventures  on  the  way.  As  regards 
the  locality  where  this  wonderful  garden  was  to  be  found,  there 
was  a  difference  of  opinion ;  some,  apparently  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  Phoenician  traditions,  believing  it  to  have  been  in 
the  remote  west,  while  ^Eschylos  and  others  conceived  that 
Atlas  and  the  Hesperides  lived  in  the  northern  region  of  the 
Hyperboreans.  From  the  combination  of  both  beliefs  in  later 
times,  a  very  wide  scope  was  given  to  the  adventures  of  the 
hero  on  his  way  there  and  back.  Herakles  himself,  not  know¬ 
ing  what  direction  to  take,  is  said  to  have  first  passed  through 
Macedonia  and  on  to  the  Rhone,  where  he  met  certain  nymphs 
who  advised  him  that  Nereus,  the  sea-god,  knew  the  secret, 
and  could  be  made  to  give  it  up.  In  spite  of  the  many  trans- 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


259 


formations  of  Nereus,  Herakles  compelled  him  to  tell  him  the 
way.  He  then  proceeded  to  Libya,  where  he  found  Antasos, 
a  giant  of  enormous  strength,  whose  habit  was  to  kill  all  trav¬ 
ellers  who  crossed  the  waste  where  he  lived.  He  was  a  son  of 
Poseidon  and  the  Earth,  deriving  from  his  mother  a  strength 
which  rendered  him  invincible  to  those  who  could  not  lift  him 
from  the  ground,  which  Herakles  did.  The  wrestling  scene 
between  the  two  was  a  favourite  subject  in  ancient  art,  and 
commended  itself  largely  to  the  Greek  youths  as  they  practised 
in  the  palaestra.  When  he  had  conquered  Antaeos,  Herakles 
lay  down  to  rest,  and  in  a  little  while  found  himself  covered 
with  a  host  of  creatures  called  Pygmies,  who  sprang  up  from 
the  waste.  He  wrapped  them  in  his  lion’s  skin  and  killed  them. 
Prom  Libya  he  went  into  Egypt,  where  he  was  seized  by  the 
orders  of  Busiris  and  conveyed,  as  were  all  strangers,  to  be 
sacrificed.  He  burst  his  bonds,  and  offered  up  instead  Busiris, 
his  son,  and  retinue.  From  Egypt  he  went  to  India,  and 
thence  returned  in  a  northerly  direction  towards  the  Caucasus 
mountains,  where  he  set  free  Prometheus,  and  in  return  for 
that  kindly  act  was  told  the  way  on  through  Scythia  to  the 
region  of  the  Hyperboreans,  where  lived  Atlas  and  the  Hes- 
perides.  Part  of  the  arrangement  was  that  Atlas  should  pluck 
the  three  apples  for  him ;  and  to  relieve  him  for  that  purpose 
it  was  necessary  that  Herakles  should  take  the  burden  of  the 
world  on  his  shoulders.  Atlas  returned  with  the  apples,  and 
naively  proposed  that  he  himself  should  convey  them  to  Eurys- 
theus.  Herakles  appeared  to  appreciate  the  proposal,  and  only 
wished  first  to  find  a  pad  to  save  his  head  from  the  weight. 
Atlas  did  not  see  the  joke,  and  willingly  took  the  world  on  his 
shoulders  again.  Herakles,  of  course,  did  not  return.  An¬ 
other  report  has  it  that  Herakles  himself  entered  the  garden, 


26o 


HEROES. 


slew  the  dragon  which  watched  the  tree,  and  carried  off  the 
apples  and  returned  with  them  to  Eurystheus. 

1 2.  Cerberus ,  the  three-headed  dog  of  Hades,  which  guarded 
the  entrance  to  the  lower  world,  was  a  symbol  of  the  eternal 
darkness  of  Hades.  The  task  of  bringing  it  to  the  upper 
world  was  regarded  in  the  earlier  epic  poetry  as  the  most 
difficult  of  the  labours  of  Herakles.  It  was  supposed  that  he 
entered  from  the  upper  world  through  a  chasm  near  Taenarum, 
returning  by  the  same  way.  The  shades  of  the  dead  fled  in 
terror  when  they  beheld  him.  Near  the  gates  he  found  his 
friends  Theseus  and  Peirithoos  seated  on  a  rock,  to  which 
they  were  attached  as  if  they  had  grown  from  it,  and  in  great 
trouble.  He  freed  Theseus,  but  the  earth  shook  when  he  tried 
to  do  the  same  for  Peirithoos.  To  impart  life  to  the  shades 
of  his  friends  whom  he  freed,  he  obtained  blood  from  one  of 
the  cows  of  Hades,  which  he  killed  after  a  severe  fight  with 
Menoites,  the  herdsman.  At  last  he  reached  Pluto,  who 
agreed  that  he  might  take  Cerberus  provided  he  could  do  so 
without  the  assistance  of  arms  of  any  kind.  This  he  succeeded 
in  doing,  and  leading  the  hated  dog  to  Eurystheus,  completed 
his  twelve  labours. 

The  labours  of  Herakles  were  a  favourite  subject  with  the 
ancient  vase-painters  and  sculptors,  and  of  the  latter  especially 
those  of  later  times  who  worked  for  Roman  patrons,  in  whose 
estimation  the  Greek  hero  stood  high.  The  manner  in  which 
each  of  the  labours  was  represented,  seldom  varied;  and  from 
this  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  type  of  each  had  originally 
been  established  by  Greek  artists  of  celebrity,  from  whose 
models  it  would  have  been  presumption  to  depart.  As  an 
instance  of  how  these  labours  were  represented  collectively, 
we  would  cite  a  marble  sarcophagus  in  the  British  Museum, 


THE  TWELVE  LABOURS  OF  HERAKLES. 


26l 


dating  probably  from  the  third  century  a.  d.  Without  caring 
to  follow  the  chronological  order  usually  accepted,  the  sculp¬ 
tor  has  chosen  to  dispose  his  groups  according  to  his  ideas  of 
artistic  effect,  or  perhaps  according  to  his  ideas  of  their  im¬ 
portance.  On  the  extreme  left  of  the  front  we  find  Herakles 
dragging  Cerberus  out  of  Hades,  the  mouth  of  which  is  repre¬ 
sented  as  the  rocky  entrance  to  a  cave.  Among  the  rocks  is 
hiding  a  nude  diminutive  figure,  which  maybe  taken  to  be  one 
of  the  shades  of  the  dead,  who,  as  it  was  said,  fled  in  terror 
when  they  beheld  the  hero.  Next  to  this  is  a  group  of  Hera¬ 
kles  removing  the  girdle  of  the  Amazon  Hippolyte,  who  lies 
dead  at  his  feet.  Then  we  have  the  scene  in  the  garden  of 
the  Hesperides,  then  the  taming  of  the  horses  of  Diomedes, 
and  lastly,  the  strangling  of  the  Nemean  lion.  On  one  end 
of  the  sarcophagus  he  appears  slaying  the  Lernean  hydra,  and 
on  the  other  capturing  the  Keryneian  stag.  In  these  last 
three  groups  he  is  figured  represented  as  beardless  and  of  a 
youthful  figure,  while  in  the  others  his  form  has  become  colos¬ 
sal,  and  his  features  marked  with  toil.  On  the  lid  are"  sculp¬ 
tured  on  a  smaller  scale,  the  five  remaining  labours,  of  which 
the  first,  beginning  from  the  left  hand,  is  the  bringing  of  the 
Erymanthian  boar;  next  to  that  we  find  Herakles  hard  at 
work  with  a  pickaxe,  making  an  opening,  as  it  seems,  into  the 
wall  of  the  Augeian  stables ;  the  third  scene  represents  him 
shooting  the  Stymphalian  birds ;  in  the  fourth  he  is  engaged 
in  subduing  the  Cretan  bull ;  and  in  the  fifth  he  fights  with 
the  triple-bodied  giant,  Geryon.  These  five  labours  are  shut 
in  on  the  left  by  the  scene  where  Herakles,  as  an  infant, 
strangles  the  snake  sent  by  Hera,  and  on  the  right  by  a  group 
representing  him  seated  after  his  labours,  and  receiving  a  cup 
of  wine  from  the  goddess  Victory,  while  Athene  stands  by. 


262 


HEROES. 


Herakles  as  a  National  Hero. 

In  addition  to  the  twelve  labours  imposed  by  Eurystheus, 
and  apparently  after  the  expiry  of  his  servitude  to  that  mon¬ 
arch,  Herakles  performed  many  other  wonderful  feats,  which 
caused  his  name  to  be  surrounded  with  glory.  Of  these  it 
has  already  been  mentioned  that  he  wrestled  with  and  van¬ 
quished  the  Giant  Antaeos,  who  lived  in  Cyrene,  on  the 
north  coast  of  Africa,  and  slew  all  who  came  in  his  way,  and 
that  in  Egypt  he  slew  Busiris,  whose  practice  had  been  to 
sacrifice  all  strangers  that  entered  his  dominions.  Next  we 
find  him  among  the  Caucasus  mountains,  where,  having  shot 
the  bird  that  gnawed  the  liver  of  Prometheus,  he  set  the 
Titan  free.  He  saved  Alkestis,  the  wife  of  Admetos,  king 
of  Pherae,  under  the  following  circumstances  :  Admetos,  being 
sick,  had  caused  an  inquiry  to  be  made  of  an  oracle  as  to  the 
issue  of  his  illness,  and  was  told  in  reply  that  he  would  die 
unless  some  one  could  be  found  to  volunteer  to  lay  down  his 
life  for  him.  For  this  his  wife,  Alkestis,  offered  herself,  and 
would  have  been  carried  off  to  the  shades,  but  for  Herakles, 
who  seized  the  god  of  death  in  his  strong  arms,  and  held  him 
till  he  promised  to  allow  her  to  remain  with  her  husband. 

He  accompanied  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts  in  search 
of  the  golden  fleece,  and  took  part  in  the  first  war  against 
Troy,  along  with  Telamon,  the  father  of  Ajax,  Peleus,  the 
father  of  Achilles,  and  Oikles,  the  father  of  Amphiaraos. 
The  cause  of  this  war  was  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of 
Laomedon,  the  king  of  Troy,  who,  in  consideration  of 
Herakles  having  rescued  his  daughter  Hesione  from  the 
jaws  of  a  sea-monster,  had  promised  her  hand  to  Herakles. 


HERAKLES  AS  A  NATIONAL  HERO. 


263 


Laomedon  was  besieged  in  his  citadel,  finally  was  taken  prison¬ 
er,  and  slain  along  with  his  sons — all  except  Podarkes, 
whose  life  was  spared  on  the  entreaty  of  Hesione.  Telamon 
was  rewarded  with  the  hand  of  Hesione.  Podarkes  assumed 
the  name  of  Priamos,  and,  after  the  withdrawal  of  Herakles 
and  his  expedition,  established  a  new  dynasty  in  Troy.  On 
the  way  home  Herakles  and  his  companions  were  compelled 
to  take  shelter  from  a  storm  at  Kos,  but  were  refused  hospi¬ 
tality  by  the  inhabitants.  For  this  they  destroyed  the  town. 

In  an  expedition  against  Pylos,  Herakles  succeeded,  with 
the  assistance  of  Athene,  in  overcoming  Periklymenos,  a 
strange  being,  who  had  the  power  of  assuming  any  form  he 
pleased.  He  next  proceeded  to  Lacedaemon,  to  assist  his 
friend  Tyndareus,  the  rightful  ruler  of  that  state,  against  the 
family  of  Hippokoontides,  by  whom  he  had  been  expelled, 
— this  undertaking  being  also  crowned  with  success,  though  it 
entailed  the  loss,  among  others  of  his  companions,  of  the  sons 
of  Kepheus,  king  of  Tegea.  Tyndareus  was  reinstated. 

Whether  it  was  on  the  conclusion  of  the  labours  imposed  on 
him  by  Eurystheus,  or  at  some  other  period  of  his  life,  Hera¬ 
kles  is  said  to  have  once  returned  to  Thebes,  exhausted  by  toil, 
and  to  have  fallen  into  violent  illness,  followed  by  raving,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  committed  many  unfortunate  acts, 
among  others  attempting  to  carry  off  the  sacred  tripod  from 
the  sanctuary  of  Apollo  at  Delphi.  Being  afterwards  informed 
by  the  oracle  of  Apollo  that  the  crimes  he  had  committed 
through  his  insanity  could  be  expiated  by  a  period  of  three 
years’  servitude,  he  offered  his  services  to  Omphale,  queen 
of  Lydia,  and  there,  as  elsewhere,  distinguished  himself  chiefly 
for  the  assistance  he  rendered  to  the  oppressed,  and  for  the 
valour  of  his  deeds. 


264 


HEROES. 


The  Death  and  Deification  of  Herakles. 

Herakles,  it  would  seem,  had  wooed  Iole,  a  daughter  of 
Eurytos,  king  of  (Echalia,  but  had  been  ultimately  refused  her 
hand,  in  spite  of  his  having  fulfilled  all  the  conditions  laid 
down  by  her  father.  Turning  elsewhere,  he  became  a  suitor 
of  Deianeira,  a  daughter  of  CEneus,  king  of  Kalydon,  who 
offered  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  man  who  should  van¬ 
quish  the  river-god  Acheloos  in  wrestling.  Having  proved 
himself  more  than  a  match  for  the  river-god,  Herakles  obtained 
Deianeira  in  marriage,  and  next  proceeded  to  punish  the  father 
of  Iole  for  his  deceit.  Having  taken  the  stronghold  of  (Echalia, 
he  put  the  king  and  his  children  to  death,  with  the  exception 
of  Iole,  whom  he  carried  off ;  but  instead  of  returning  home 
directly,  proceeded  with  her  to  a  promontory  in  Euboea,  in¬ 
tending  to  offer  a  sacrifice  to  Zeus.  Deianeira,  hearing  of 
this,  and  being  jealous  of  a  revival  of  her  husband’s  former 
*  love  for  Iole,  took  the  white  robe  in  which  he  had  been  accus¬ 

tomed  to  offer  sacrifices,  steeped  it  in  some  preparation  given 
her  by  the  Centaur  Nessos,  as  a  charm  to  bring  back  her 
husband’s  love,  and  sent  it  by  her  son  Lichas  to  Herakles. 
She  was  not  aware  that  the  preparation  contained  the  deadliest 
poison.  Herakles  had  hardly  put  on  the  robe,  when  he  was 
seized  with  violent  pain — the  poison  entering  into  his  frame. 
Death  appeared  to  be  inevitable.  He  caused  a  pyre  of  wood 
to  be  erected  on  Mount  GEta,  set  fire  to  it,  and  after  handing 
over  his  unerring  bow  and  arrows  to  his  friend  Philoktetes, 
mounted  the  pyre,  and  was  consumed  in  its  flames.  His  spirit, 
it  was  said,  passed  away  in  a  cloud,  and  was  conducted  by 
Iris  and  Hermes  to  Olympos,  where,  after  being  reconciled 


■ 


■ 


* 


XXXIV 


HERAKLES  AS  A  NATIONAL  HERO. 


265 


to  Hera,  he  was  married  to  the  goddess  Hebe,  and  enjoyed 
immortality  and  the  esteem  of  all  the  gods.  Deianeira,  mean¬ 
time  having  heard  of  the  calamity  she  had  caused,  put  herself 
to  death. 

While  ancient  poets  familiarized  the  people  with  the  exploits 
of  Herakles,  artists  found  in  them  an  endless  variety  of  sub¬ 
jects,  as  the  collections  of  sculptures  and  painted  vases  still 
testify.  In  the  schools  he  was  held  up  as  an  embodiment  of 
heroic  virtue,  and  everywhere  honour  was  done  to  him. 


THESEUS. 

(plate  XXXI v.) 

The  friend,  and  in  many  respects  the  counterpart  of  Hera¬ 
kles,  was  Theseus,  a  son  of  /Egeus,  king  of  Attica,  and 
./Ethra,  a  daughter  of  Pittheus,  king  of  Trcezene.  While 
his  mojther  was  a  descendant  of  Pelops,  his  father  was  of  the 
line  of  Erechtheus.  Theseus,  brought  up  under  the  care  of 
his  grandfather,  Pittheus,  whose  wisdom  and  virtue  were  well 
known,  soon  gave  promise  of  great  strength  and  skill  in  athletic 
exercises,  such  as  were  then  prescribed  for  youths,  and  more¬ 
over  became  a  proficient  in  playing  the  lyre.  His  father, 
^Egeus,  on  taking  leave  of  his  mother,  ./Ethra,  at  Trcezene, 
had  secreted  his  sword  and  sandals  under  a  great  rock,  and 
told  her  that  when  the  boy  was  able  to  move  the  rock,  he 
might  come  to  him  at  Athens,  bringing  the  sword  and  sandals 
as  a  token.  When  only  in  his  sixteenth  year,  Theseus  accom¬ 
plished  this  task,  and  at  once  set  out  for  Athens,  where 
Medea,  who  was  then  living  with  Higeus,  tried  to  compass 
his  death,  but  her  plan  having  failed,  fled. 


266 


HEROES. 


On  his  way  to  Athens  Theseus  was  the  hero  of  several 
exploits  resembling  more  or  less  the  feats  which  Herakles 
performed  in  his  youth.  He  slew  Periphates,  whose  practice 
had  been  to  crush  with  a  blow  of  his  iron  club  all  travellers 
across  the  pathless  district  between  Trcezene  and  Epidauros. 
On  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  Theseus  met  and  overcame  Sinis, 
the  robber,  who  was  the  terror  of  the  neighbourhood.  It  was 
to  commemorate  this  feat,  it  was  said,  that  Theseus  established 
the  Isthmian  games.  At  Krommyon  he  slew  the  wild  boar 
that  was  laying  waste  the  country  round.  He  threw  Skiron 
from  a  high  cliff  into  the  sea — a  death  to  which  that  robber 
had  doomed  many  unlucky  travellers.  At  Eleusis  he  slew  the 
powerful  Kerkyon,  and  afterwards  Damastes  (usually  called 
Prokrustes),  whose  manner  of  killing  his  victims  was  to 
place  them  on  a  bed  which  was  always  either  too  long  or  too 
short :  if  too  short,  he  would  cut  off  part  of  the  victim  to  suit 
the  bed ;  if  too  long,  he  would  stretch  his  victim  to  the  re¬ 
quired  length. 

Arriving  at  Athens,  Theseus  was  purified  from  all  this  blood¬ 
shed  by  the  grateful  inhabitants.  It  happened  that,  because 
of  the  long  Ionian  dress  which  he  wore,  and  his  long  hair, 
which  gave  him  the  appearance  of  a  girl,  some  scoffed  at  him 
for  going  about  alone  in  public.  To  show  that  he  was  far 
from  so  effeminate  as  he  seemed,  he  unyoked  a  laden  wagon 
that  was  standing  by,  and  threw  it  up  in  the  air,  to  the  aston¬ 
ishment  of  all. 

His  next  exploit  was  against  the  family  of  giants,  fifty  in 
number,  called  Pallantides,  sons  of  his  uncle  Pallas,  who 
were  endeavouring  to  get  rid  of  Theseus,  in  the  hope  of 
succeeding  to  the  government  of  Athens  at  the  death  of  their 
uncle  ^Egeus.  His  extraordinary  strength  enabled  him  to 


THESEUS. 


267 


overpower  them.  He  then  proceeded  to  Marathon,  where, 
as  we  have  already  said,  in  connection  with  the  labours  of 
Herakles,  a  furious  bull  was  destroying  the  plains.  He  cap¬ 
tured  and  led  it  off  to  Athens,  where  he  sacrificed  it  to  the 
goddess  Athene,  who  had  lent  him  her  aid  in  the  enterprise. 
(See  Plate  XXXIV.) 

But  the  adventure  in  which  he  gained  the  greatest  glory  was 
his  slaying  the  Minotaur,  a  monster  of  which  we  have  given 
a  description  above  in  connection  with  the  legends  of  Crete, 
where  we  have  also  explained  why  Athens  was  compelled  to 
send  a  tribute  of  young  men  and  maidens  as  victims  to  the 
Minotaur.  Theseus  offered  himself  as  a  victim,  and  in  time 
arrived  with  the  others  in  Crete.  Before  the  sacrifice  took 
place,  however,  he  had  won  the  favour  of  Ariadne,  the 
daughter  of  Minos,  and  had  obtained  from  her  a  clue  of  thread, 
by  holding  on  to  which  he  might  find  his  way  back  out  of  the 
labyrinth  in  which  the  Minotaur  lived.  The  intricacies  of  its 
passages  would  have  otherwise  been  a  source  of  danger  against 
which  his  great  strength  would  not  have  served  him.  On  a 
very  ancient  vase  in  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  picture  in 
which  Ariadne  is  represented  as  holding  the  one  end  of  the 
clue,  while  Theseus  in  the  interior  of  the  labyrinth  is  slaying 
the  monster.  Having  by  this  act  freed  Athens  forever  from 
the  cruel  tribute,  Theseus  and  his  companions  set  out  on  the 
homeward  voyage,  accompanied  also  by  Ariadne.  But  at  the 
island  of  Naxos  he  abandoned  her,  fearing  to  take  a  stranger 
home  as  his  wife.  Her  grief  on  awaking  and  seeing  the  ship 
far  away  that  conveyed  her  lover  was  intense,  and  has  been 
commemorated  frequently  both  by  poets  and  artists.  She 
was  found  sorrowing  by  the  young  wine-god  Dionysos,  by 
whose  influence  her  joy  returned. 


268 


HEROES. 


Meanwhile  the  arrival  of  the  ship  was  being  anxiously- 
looked  for  at  Athens.  That  the  good  news  might  be  known 
more  quickly,  Theseus  had  promised,  when  he  set  out,  to 
hoist  a  white  flag  when  he  sighted  Attica,  if  successful.  In 
his  joy,  however,  he  had  forgotten  the  promise,  and  sailed 
towards  the  port  with  the  black  colours  with  which  he  had 
started.  On  seeing  this,  his  father,  ^Egeus,  gave  way  to  grief 
at  the  supposed  loss  of  his  son,  and  put  an  end  to  his  life. 

Among  the  other  adventures  in  which  Theseus  took  part 
were  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts  and  that  of  Herakles 
against  the  Amazons.  In  the  latter  expedition  he  had,  it  was 
said,  carried  off  Hippolyte,  whose  girdle  Herakles  had  been 
commanded  by  Eurystheus  to  obtain.  For  the  carrying  off  of 
their  queen,  a  great  body  of  the  Amazons  invaded  Attica,  but 
were  repulsed  by  Theseus. 

His  warm  friendship  for  the  Thessalian  prince  Peirithoos 
gave  Theseus  two  opportunities  of  displaying  his  heroic 
qualities.  The  first  was  at  the  marriage  of  his  friend — at 
which,  as  has  been  previously  related,  the  Centaurs  present  at 
the  banquet,  becoming  fired  with  wine,  raised  a  tumult,  and 
would  have  carried  off  the  bride,  but  for  the  resistance  of 
Theseus.  The  second  occasion  was  when  Peirithoos,  having 
conceived  a  passion  for  Persephone,  audaciously  resolved  to 
carry  her  away  from  the  lower  world,  and  was  aided  by  The¬ 
seus.  The  attempt  failed,  however,  and  both  were  kept  in 
chains  in  the  lower  world  till  Herakles  released  them. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  Theseus  succeeded  to  the 
government  of  Athens,  lived  in  splendour,  ruled  with  prudence, 
and  introduced  institutions  of  a  most  liberal  kind  among  his 
people.  He  united  the  various  independent  and  previously 
hostile  villages  of  Attica  into  one  state,  with  Athens  at  its 


r 


XXXIII 


Meleagros. 


i 


The  Dioskuri. 


* 


. 


THE  HUNT  OF  THE  KALYDONIAN  BOAR. 


269 


head.  He  enriched  and  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  great 
festival  of  the  Panathensea,  that  had  been  established  by 
Erechtheus.  In  the  island  of  Delos  he  founded  an  annual 
festival  accompanied  by  games,  at  which  the  prize  was  a  wreath 
of  the  sacred  palm-tree.  In  Athens  the  festival  of  Pyanep- 
sia,  in  honour  of  Apollo,  and  Oschophoria,  in  honour  of 
Dionysos,  were  both  said  to  have  been  established  by  him. 
He  met  his  death,  it  was  said,  at  the  hands  of  Lykomedes, 
to  whose  court  he  had  retired  on  the  occasion  of  a  tumult  in 
Athens.  His  wife  was  Phaedra,  a  daughter  of  Minos,  of 
Crete;  according  to  another  report,  Antiope. 

The  memory  of  his  deeds  was  preserved  by  a  beautiful 
temple  in  Athens,  erected  for  that  purpose,  and  called  the 
Theseion. 

V 

THE  HUNT  OF  THE  KALYDONIAN  BOAR. 

At  the  head  of  this  expedition  was  Meleagros,  a  son  of 
CEneus,  the  king  of  Kalydon,  and  his  wife  Althaea  ;  Deia- 
neira,  the  wife  of  Herakles,  being  a  daughter  of  the  same  pair. 
At  the  birth  of  Meleagros  the  Parcae  appeared  to  Althaea,  it 
would  seem,  Atropos  telling  her  that  her  infant  would  live  as 
long  as  a  brand  which  she  pointed  to  on  the  fire  remained  un¬ 
consumed.  Althaea  snatched  it  that  moment  from  the  flames, 
hid  it  away  carefully,  and  thus  secured  the  invulnerability  of 
her  son.  On  growing  to  manhood  he  took  part  in  the  Argo- 
nautic  expedition,  and  is  said  to  have  signalized  himself  by 
many  acts  of  bravery;  but  the  enterprise  with  which  his  fame 
was  most  associated  was  the  successful  hunt  of  the  ferocious 
boar,  that  was  laying  waste  the  country  round  Kalydon,  defy¬ 
ing  the  spears  and  hounds  of  ordinary  huntsmen. 


270 


HEROES. 


Meleagros  sent  messengers  round  Greece  to  invite  all  its 
bravest  heroes  to  Kalydon  to  join  him  in  the  hunt.  There 
came  Idas  and  Lynkeus  from  Messene,  Kastor  and  Poly- 
deukes  (Pollux)  from  Lakedaemon,  Theseus  from  Athens, 
Admetos  from  Pherae,  Ankaeos  and  the  beautiful  Atalante 
from  Arcadia,  Jason  from  Iolkos,  Peleus  from  Thessaly,  and 
many  other  well-proved  heroes.  After  enjoying  for  nine  days, 
as  was  usual,  the  hospitality  of  Meleagros,  they  prepared  on 
the  tenth  for  the  chase,  which,  with  a  few  accidents,  resulted 
in  the  death  of  the  boar  by  the  spear  of  Meleagros,  to  whom 
accordingly  fell  the  trophy  of  the  monster’s  head  and  skin. 

In  Plate  XXXIII.  he  is  represented  standing  beside  an  altar 
shaded  by  a  laurel-tree,  holding  two  spears  in  his  hand.  His 
dog  looks  up  to  him.  The  head  of  the  boar  lies  on  the  altar. 

As,  however,  Atalante  had  been  the  first  to  wound  the  boar, 
Meleagros  made  that  a  pretext  for  presenting  her  with  its  skin. 
But  on  her  way  homewards  to  Arcadia  she  was  met  and 
forcibly  robbed  of  it  by  the  brothers  of  Althaea,  the  mother  of 
Meleagros,  who  considered  that  they  had  a  superior  claim 
to  that  part  of  the  booty.  A  quarrel  arose  on  that  account 
between  Meleagros  and  his  uncles ;  they  fought,  and  the  end 
of  it  was  that  the  uncles  were  slain.  To  avenge  their  death, 
Althaea  cast  the  brand,  which  up  till  then  she  had  carefully 
preserved,  into  the  fire,  and  thereupon  her  brave  son  was 
seized  with  dreadful  pain,  and  died.  Grief  at  the  rashness  of 
her  act  caused  the  mother  to  kill  herself. 

THE  EXPEDITION  OF  THE  ARGONAUTS. 

To  understand  the  object  of  this  expedition,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  go  back  a  little  into  the  genealogy  of  the  person 


THE  EXPEDITION  OF  THE  ARGONAUTS. 


271 


at  whose  instance  it  was  conducted.  That  person  was  Jason, 
a  son  of  ^)son,  the  rightful  king  of  Iolkos  in  Thessaly,  and 
his  wife  Alkimede.  The  father  of  yEson  was  HColos  (a  son  of 
Hellen  and  a  grandson  of  Deukalion),  at  whose  death  he  suc¬ 
ceeded  to  the  throne,  but  was  driven  from  it  by  Pelias,  his 
step-brother,  at  whose  hands  he  and  all  his  relatives  suffered 
cruel  persecution.  The  boy  Jason  was  saved  from  harm  by 
some  of  his  father’s  friends,  and  placed  under  the  care  and 
instruction  of  the  Centaur  Cheiron.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he 
was  told  by  an  oracle  to  present  himself  to  Pelias,  and  claim 
his  father’s  kingdom.  Pelias  also  had  learned  from  the  oracle 
that  a  descendant  of  HIolos  would  dethrone  him,  and,  more¬ 
over,  that  the  descendant  in  question  would  appear  to  him 
for  the  first  time  with  only  one  sandal  to  his  feet.  Pelias, 
the  usurper,  was  therefore  anxiously  looking  out  for  the  ap¬ 
proach  of  a  person  in  this  plight.  It  happened  that  the  river 
Enipeus  was  swollen  when  Jason  reached  it,  on  his  way  to  put 
forth  his  claim  against  Pelias.  But  Hera,  the  patron  goddess 
of  Iolkos,  taking  the  form  of  an  old  woman,  conveyed  him 
across,  with  no  loss  except  that  of  one  sandal.  On  his  arrival 
at  Iolkos,  Pelias  recognized  him  as  the  rightful  heir  referred 
to  by  the  oracle,  but,  at  the  same  time,  was  unwilling  to  abdi¬ 
cate  in  his  favour.  He  would  prefer  that  Jason  should  first  do 
something  in  the  way  of  heroic  enterprise,  and,  as  a  suitable 
adventure  of  that  kind,  proposed  that  he  should  fetch  the 
golden  fleece  from  Kolchis.  Jason  agreed  to  this,  and  set 
about  building  the  Argo,  the  largest  ship  that  had  as  yet  sailed 
from  Greece.  The  goddess  Athene  aided  him  with  her  skill 
and  advice  in  the  work,  as  did  also  Hera.  When  the  ship 
was  ready,  Jason  sent  messengers  to  invite  the  foremost  heroes 
of  Greece  to  join  him  in  his  enterprise.  Among  the  many 


272 


HEROES. 


who  accepted  his  invitation  were  Herakles,  Kastor  and  Pollux, 
Meleagros,  Orpheus,  Peleus,  Neleus,  Admetos,  Theseus,  his 
friend  Peirithoos,  and  the  two  sons  of  Boreas,  Kala'is  and 
Zetes. 

Turning  now  to  the  story  of  the  golden  fleece,  the  finding 
of  which  was  the  object  of  so  powerful  an  expedition,  we  must 
go  back  to  JEolos,  whom  we  have  mentioned  above  as  grand¬ 
father  of  Jason  and  son  of  Hellen.  This  JEolos  had,  besides 
^Eson,  another  son,  Athamas,  who  married  Nephele,  and 
had  two  children,  Phrixos  and*  Helle.  On  the  death  of 
his  wife,  Athamas  married  a  second  time  I  no,  a  daughter  of 
Kadmos,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Learchos  and  Meli- 
kertes.  The  second  wife  disliking  her  two  step-children, 
made  several  attempts  on  their  lives.  To  save  them  from 
further  danger,  the  shade  of  their  mother,  it  was  said,  appeared 
to  Phrixos,  bringing  at  the  same  time  a  large  ram  with  a  gold¬ 
en  fleece,  on  which  she  proposed  Phrixos  and  Helle  should 
escape  over  the  sea.  They  started  according  to  her  advice, 
and  Phrixos  reached  safely  the  opposite  shore,  but  Helle  fell 
from  the  ram’s  back  into  the  sea  and  was  drowned.  The  name 
of  Hellespont  was  in  consequence  given  to  the  strait  which 
they  had  to  cross.  Phrixos,  having  reached  the  other  side, 
proceeded  to  Kolchis,  on  the  farthest  shore  of  the  Black  Sea, 
and  there  sacrificed  the  ram  to  Zeus,  in  honour  of  his  safety. 
He  hung  the  golden  fleece  up  in  the  temple  of  Ares. 

Previous  to  starting  from  Iolkos,  Jason  offered  a  sacrifice  to 
Zeus,  calling  upon  the  god  for  a  sign  of  his  favour,  or  dis¬ 
pleasure  if  it  should  be  so.  Zeus  answered  with  thunder  and 
lightning,  which  was  taken  as  a  favourable  omen.  The  expe¬ 
dition  proceeded  first  to  Lemnos,  where  the  heroes  were  kindly 
received,  remained  a  long  time,  and  became  the  fathers  of  a 


• - - 

■w 

EXPEDITION  OF  THE  ARGONAUTS.  273 

* - - - - - - - * - 

new  race  of  heroes.  The  women  of  the  island  had,  it  would 
seem,  at  the  instigation  of  Aphrodite,  slain  their  husbands. 
One  of  the  Lemnian  women,  Hypsipyle,  bore  a  son  to  Jason, 
and  called  him  Euneos.  Leaving  Lemnos  and  its  festive 
life,  the  Argonauts  continued  their  journey  as  far  as  Kyzikos, 
where  they  landed  for  a  short  time,  and  were  in  the  act  of 
leaving,  when  Herakles,  having  broken  his  oar,  left  the  ship, 
accompanied  by  Hylas,  to  cut  a  new  oar  in  the  wood.  But 
some  nymghs,  admiring  the  beauty  of  young  Hylas,  carried 
him  off ;  and  as  Herakles  would  not  leave  the  country  without 
him,  the  expedition  was  compelled  to  proceed  without  the 
assistance  and  companionship  of  the  great  hero.  Their  next 
landing  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  modern  Scutari, 
where  the  reigning  king,  Amykos,  was  famed  as  a  boxer,  and 
for  his  cruelty  to  all  strangers  who  entered  his  territories. 
Seeing  the  Argonauts  land  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  fresh 
water,  he  sent  them,  as  was  his  custom,  a  challenge  to  match 
him  with  a  boxer,  which  Pollux  accepted,  and  proved  the 
skill  by  which  he  earned  his  fame  upon  the  boastful  Amykos. 
Proceeding  on  their  journey,  they  passed  through  the  perilous 
entrance  to  the  Black  Sea  in  safety,  owing  their  escape  from 
its  dangers  to  the  advice  of  Phineus,  the  blind  and  aged  king 
of  the  district,  whom  they  had  found  suffering  great  distress  on 
account  of  his  food  being  always  carried  off  or  polluted  by  the 
Harpys,  just  as  he  sat  down  to  eat  it.  This  punishment,  as 
well  as  his  blindness,  had  been  sent  upon  him  by  the  gods  in 
consequence  of  his  cruelty  to  his  wife  (a  daughter  of  Boreas) 
and  children.  The  Harpys  were  driven  away  effectually  by 
the  two  sons  of  Boreas,  who  accompanied  the  Argonauts ;  and 
it  was  in  return  for  this  kindness  that  Phineus  communicated 

his  plan  for  a  safe  passage  through  the  Symplegades,  two 
18 


274 


HEROES. 


4 


great  cliffs  that  moved  upon  their  bases,  and  crushed  every¬ 
thing  that  ventured  to  pass  between.  His  plan  was  first  to 
fly  a  pigeon  through  between  them,  and  then  the  moment  that 
the  cliffs,  having  closed  upon  the  pigeon,  began  to  retire  to 
each  side,  to  row  the  Argo  swiftly  through  the  passage.  It 
was  done,  and  before  the  cliffs  could  close  upon  her,  the  ship, 
all  but  her  rudder,  had  got  clear  of  danger.  From  that  time 
the  Symplegades  were  united  into  one  rock. 

After  many  other  adventures  the  expedition  at  last  reached 
Kolchis,  where  they  found  iSLetes,  a  reputed  son  of  Helios 
and  Perse'fs,  reigning  as  king.  He  refused  to  give  up  the 
golden  fleece,  except  to  the  man  who  should  acquit  himself  to 
his  satisfaction  in  certain  enterprises  which  he  proposed.  The 
first  was  to  yoke  to  a  plough  his  unmanageable  bulls,  that 
snorted  fire  and  had  hoofs  of  brass,  and  to  plough  the  field  of 
Ares  with  them.  That  done,  the  field  was  to  be  sown  with  a 
dragon’s  teeth,  from  which,  armed  men  were  to  spring  in  the 
furrows.  The  hero  who  succeeded  so  far  was  then  to  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  fetch/if  he  could,  the  golden  fleece,  which  hung  on 
an  oak  in  a  grove  sacred  to  Ares,  and  was  watched  continually 
by  a  monstrous  dragon.  Medea,  the  daughter  of  y£etes, 
having  conceived  a  passion  for  Jason,  prepared  him  for  these 
dangerous  tasks  by  means  of  a  witch’s  mixture  which  made 
him  proof  against  fire  and  sword.  The  goddess  Athene  also 
helped  him,  and  his  success  was  complete. 

The  Argonauts  now  commenced  their  homeward  voyage, 
Jason  taking  with  him  Medea.  On  missing  his  daughter, 
H£etes  gave  pursuit.  Seeing  that  he  was  overtaking  them, 
Medea,  to  divert  his  course,  diSfriembered  her  young  bfother, 
Absyrtos,  whom  she  had  taken  with  her,  and  cast  the  limbs 
about  in  the  sea.  The  delay  caused  to  H£etes  in  collecting 


EXPEDITION  OF  THE  ARGONAUTS. 


275 


the  pieces  of  his  child,  enabled  Medea  and  Jason  to  escape. 
According  to  another  report,  Absyrtos  had  by  that  time  grown 
to  manhood,  and  met  his  death  in  an  encounter  with  Jason, 
in  pursuit  of  whom  he  had  been  sent  by  his  father. 

After  passing  through  many  other  dangers,  Jason  at  last 
reached  Iolkos,  and,  presenting  the  golden  fleece  to  Pelias, 
claimed  the  throne,  as  agreed  upon.  But  Pelias  still  refused 
to  abdicate.  Jason  therefore  slew  him,  and  assumed  the 
government  of  Iolkos,  together  with  that  of  Corinth,  where 
ud2etes,  the  father  of  Medea,  had,  it  is  said,  ruled  before  he 
went  to  Kolchis. 

Ten  years  of  peace  followed  the  accession  of  Jason  to  the 
throne.  The  origin  of  the  troubles  that  fell  upon  the  royal 
house  thereafter  was  an  attachment  formed  by  Jason  for  the 
beautiful  Kreusa  (or  Glauke,  as  others  called  her),  whom 
he  made  his  wife  in  Corinth.  Medea,  stung  with  jealousy, 
turned  to  the  arts  of  witchcraft  she  had  learned  in  Kolchis, 
and  having  steeped  a  dress  and  a  costly  wreath  in  poison,  sent 
them  to  her  rival,  and  by  that  means  caused  her  death.  Not 
content  with  that,  she  set  fire  to  the  palace  of  Kreon,  the 
father  of  Kreusa;  and  further,  finding  Jason  enraged  at  what 
she  had  done,  she  put  to  death  the  children  she  herself  had 
borne  to  him,  and  fled  to  Athens,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  she 
lived  for  a  time  with  ^Egeus.  Thence  also  she  had  to  escape, 
in  consequence  of  an  attempt  on  the  life  of  Theseus.  She 
went  back  to  Kolchis,  some  believed,  in  a  chariot  drawn  by 
winged  dragons. 

Jason,  it  is  said,  depressed  by  his  troubles,  repaired  to  the 
sanctuary  on  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  where  the  Argo  had 
been  consecrated  in  the  grove  of  Poseidon.  On  approaching 
the  ship,  part  of  the  stern  gave  way,  fell  upon  him,  and  caused 


27  6 


HEROES. 


his  death.  Another  version  of  the  story  says  that  he  took  his 
own  life. 


THE  YOUNGER  RACE  OF  HEROES,  AND 
THE  WARS  AGAINST  THEBES  AND 


TROY. 


HE  heroes  of  the  succeeding  age  were  regarded  as  sons 


or  grandsons  of  those  whom  we  have  just  described, 


the  great  events  of  the  period  in  which  they  lived  being  the 


two  wars  against  Thebes  and  Troy.  It  has  already  been 
observed  that  the  accounts  of  these  wars,  though  apparently 
having  some  foundation  in  historical  facts,  are  altogether 
mythical  in  their  form,  and  interwoven  with  incidents  of  a 
wholly  mythical  character. 

These  two  events,  more  than  any  of  the  other  adventures 
of  heroes,  formed  the  favourite  subjects  of  the  national  poetry 
of  Greece,  the  incidents  of  each  having  been,  as  a  whole,  or 
in  part,  worked  up  into  a  long  series  of  epic  poems  and  tra¬ 
gedies,  of  which,  with  two  exceptions,  only  fragments  remain  to 
our  times.  These  exceptions  are  the  “  Iliad  ’  ’  and  “  Odyssey  ’  * 
— the  oldest,  it  is  believed,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
celebrated,  of  the  epic  poems  upon  the  subject  of  the  war 
against  Troy,  the  reputed  author  of  them  being  Homer.  The 
principal  epic  on  the  expedition  of  the  seven  heroes  against 
Thebes  was  entitled  the  Thebais,  its  author  being  unknown. 
We  shall  relate  both  these  great  events  in  the  connection  in 
which  they  have  come  down  to  us. 


THE  WARS  OF  THEBES  AND  TROY. 


277 


THE  SEVEN  HEROES  WHO  WENT  AGAINST 
THEBES:  THEIR  DESCENDANTS,  THE  EPIGONI. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  series  of  grim  events  by 
which  CEdipos,  after  killing  his  father,  Laios,  came  to  the 
throne  of  Thebes,  and  married  his  own  mother,  Jokaste. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  from  this  union  sprang  four  chil¬ 
dren,  two  of  them  being  sons,  Eteokles  and  Polyneikes, 
and  two  daughters,  Antigone,  and  Ismene ;  and  that,  when 
the  criminality  of  the  marriage  came  to  light,  Jokaste  killed 
herself,  while  QEdipos,  after  putting  out  his  eyes,  went  into 
voluntary  exile,  accompanied  only  by  his  high-souled  daughter 
Antigone,  who  resolved  to  share  all  his  adversity. 

The  sons,  remaining  in  Thebes,  soon  fell  into  a  warm  dis¬ 
pute  concerning  the  succession  to  the  throne,  but  at  last 
agreed  to  reign  year  about,  Eteokles,  the  elder  of  the  two, 
having  the  first  period  of  office.  His  year,  however,  having 
expired,  he  not  only  declined  to  retire  in  behalf  of  his  brother, 
but  went  so  far  as  to  expel  him  from  the  city. 

Polyneikes,  brooding  revenge,  betook  himself  to  Ad- 
rastos,  king  of  Sikyon,  and  was  there  hospitably  received, 
meeting  also  under  the  same  roof  another  pretender  to  a 
throne,  Tydeus  of  Argos.  The  two  youths  became  friends; 
and  bound  themselves  to  stand  by  each  other  in  the  recovery 
of  their  sovereignty.  Adrastos  gave  them  his  two  daughters 
in  marriage,  and  having  thus  allied  himself  to  their  cause, 
prepared  a  powerful  army  to  reinstate,  first,  Polyneikes  in 
Thebes,  and  next,  Tydeus  in  Argos. 

Mean  time  both  the  young  men  visited  many  parts  of  Greece, 
with  the  view  of  obtaining  companions  in  arms,  and  many  a 


278 


HEROES. 


♦ 


stout  hero  answered  to  their  summons — such,  for  example,  as 
Kapaneus,  a  son  of  Hipponoos,  of  Argos,  Eteoklos,  son 
of  Iphis,  and  Parthenopaeos,  a  son  of  Atalanta  and 
Melanion  (or  of  Ares),  from  Arcadia.  These  three,  to¬ 
gether  with  Polyneikes,  Tydeus,  and  Adrastos,  and  lastly  the 
princely  seer  Amphiaraos,  the  son  of  O’ikles  (or  of 
Apollo),  constituted  the  so-called  seven  heroes  against 
Thebes.  It  was,  however,  with  extreme  reluctance  that  Am¬ 
phiaraos  took  part  in  the  expedition  ;  for  he  was  a  man  of 
profound  piety,  and  a  prophet,  who  knew  that  the  other 
leaders  of  the  affair  had  all  more  or  less  been  guilty  of 
criminal  acts.  He  foresaw  that  the  undertaking,  altogether 
godless  as  it  was — since  Polyneikes,  though  he  had  suffered 
injustice,  had  no  right  to  invade  his  native  town  with  a 
foreign  army — would  have  a  disastrous  issue  for  all  of  them. 
His  warnings,  however,  were  unheeded,  and  he  himself, 
since  much  was  thought  to  depend  on  his  presence,  was 
forced  to  take  part  in  the  adventure  through  the  following  - 
plot : — 

Amphiaraos  and  Adrastos,  finding  themselves  greatly  at 
variance  in  opinion  concerning  the  projected  expedition,  at 
last  agreed  to  intrust  the  decision  of  the  matter  to  Eriphyle 
(the  wife  of  Amphiaraos,  who  was  prevailed  on  by  the  costly 
presents  given  her  secretly  by  Polyneikes  to  decide  against  her 
husband,  though  she  had  been  informed  by  him  that  Adras¬ 
tos  alone,  of  all  the  seven,  would  ever  return  from  the  ex¬ 
pedition.  On  stepping  into  his  chariot  to  depart  for  battle, 
Amphiaraos  turned  round,  and  called  down  upon  his  wife 
a  curse,  which  his  son,  Alkmseon,  afterwards  fulfilled  by 
slaying  his  mother  to  avenge  his  father’s  death. 

The  army  was  now  ready  to  march  under  its  seven  leaders. 


THE  SEVEN  AGAINST  THEBES. 


279 


We  must,  however,  before  tracing  its  further  adventures,  return 
for  a  moment  to  CEdipos.  After  wandering  about  sad  and 
miserable  here  and  there  in  Greece,  he  at  last,  under  the 
guidance  of  his  faithful  daughter,  Antigone,  arrived  in  At¬ 
tica,  where,  it  had  been  predicted,  he  was  to  find  a  peaceful 
end  to  all  his  woes.  Neither  of  the  sons  had  troubled  himself 
about  the  ill-fated  old  man,  until  an  oracle  announced  that 
victory  in  the  approaching  battle  would  be  on  the  side  of  him 
who  brought  back  CEdipos  to  Thebes,  and  had  him  in  his 
camp.  Thereupon  both  sought  him  out,  Polyneikes  going  in 
person  to  beg  for  his  blessing  on  the  assault  upon  their  native 
town.  CEdipos  cursed  the  unholy  enterprise.  Eteokles,  as 
the  reigning  king,  despatched  his  uncle,  Kreon,  a  brother  of 
his  mother’s,  to  Attica,  with  commands  to  bring  back  CEdipos 
by  force  if  necessary.  But  when  Kreon  attempted  to  do  so, 
Theseus  interfered,  and  expelled  him  and  his  followers  from 
the  land.  CEdipos,  after  calling  down  upon  his  undutiful 
sons  a  curse,  that  they  might  perish  each  by  the  hand  of  the 
other,  died  in  the  sacred  grove  of  the  Eumenides  at  Kolonos, 
near  Athens,  and  was  buried  by  Theseus  with  pomp  and  cere¬ 
mony.  Antigone  returned  in  great  grief  to  Thebes. 

About  the  same  time  the  expedition  of  the  seven  set  out. 
On  reaching  Nemea  they  found  all  the  springs  dry — a  judg¬ 
ment  sent  upon  them  by  Dionysos,  it  was  said,  the  guardian 
deity  of  Thebes.  Suffering  severely  from  thirst,  and  looking 
about  for  water,  the  heroes  encountered  Hypsipyle  (see 
Argonauts),  who,  because  of  Jason’s  love  for  her,  had  been 
sent  by  the  other  women  of  Lemnos  to  Nemea,  and  there  sold 
into  slavery  to  the  king,  Lykurgos,  her  duty  being  to  tend  his 
young  child,  Opheltes.  They  begged  her  to  take  them  to  a 
well,  which  she  did  ;  but  before  going  off  with  them,  had,  con- 


28o 


HEROES. 


trary  to  the  warning  of  an  oracle,  laid  down  the  child  on  the 
ground  in  the  wood.  Returning  from  the  well,  they  found 
the  child  dead  within  the  coils  of  a  snake.  Tydeus  and 
Kapaneus  would  have  slain  the  reptile  at  once,  had  not  Am- 
phiaraos  announced  it  to  be  a  miraculous  creature  sent  by 
Zeus  as  an  evil  omen.  On  this  account  he  re-named  the  child 
Archemoros  ;  which  means  the  “dawn  of  mystery.”  The 
heroes  appeased  the  angry  parents  by  performing  splendid 
obsequies  to  the  child,  the  athletic  contests  and  ceremonies 
of  that  occasion  being  afterwards  looked  on  as  the  first  cele¬ 
bration  of  the  Nemean  games  (see  above).  Hypsipyle  was 
taken  back  to  her  home  by  her  son,  Euneos,  who  had  gone 
in  search  of  her. 

In  spite  of  this  evil  omen,  the  army  of  the  seven  advanced 
upon  Thebes,  and  after  several  less  important  adventures  ar¬ 
rived  before  its  walls.  There  they  pitched  a  camp,  and  as  a 
preliminary  attempt  to  settle  the  matter  amicably,  sent  Tydeus 
into  Thebes  with  orders  to  require  that  the  government  be 
ceded  to  Polyneikes,  according  to  the  original  terms  of  agree¬ 
ment  between  the  brothers. 

Tydeus  was,  however,  received  with  hostility,  and  would 
have  perished  in  the  ambush  laid  for  h’im  by  Eteokles,  con¬ 
trary  to  the  universal  usages  of  war,  had  it  not  been  for  his 
extraordinary  strength.  Of  the  fifty  men  who  surrounded 
him,  he  spared  only  one  to  take  back  to  Eteokles  the  tidings 
of  the  affair. 

The  dispute  must  now  be  decided  by  force  of  arms.  Thebes 
was  closely  surrounded,  each  of  the  seven  heroes  taking  up 
his  position  before  one  of  its  seven  gates.  In  a  similar  manner 
Eteokles  distributed  his  forces  under  seven  generals  within 
each  of  the  gates,  reserving  for  himself  the  defence  of  the  gate 


THE  SEVEN  AGAINST  THEBES. 


28l 


which  his  brother  was  to  attack.  When  the  battle  commenced, 
deeds  of  extraordinary  valour  were  done  on  both  sides;  but  the 
gods  were  against  the  assailants,  the  Thebans  having  gained 
the  divine  good-will  in  a  special  degree  by  the  sacrifice  which 
Kreon’s  son,  Mencekeus,  voluntarily  made  of  himself  with 
a  view  to  save  his  native  town,  as  the  oracle  announced  by  the 
seer  Teiresias  recommended.  When  the  last  and  fatal  day 
of  the  siege  arrived,  Amphiaraos  warned  his  companions  in 
arms  of  what  awaited  them,  and  the  death  of  all  their  leaders 
except  Adrastos.  Intrusting  to  him  tokens  of  remembrance 
for  their  friends,  they  rushed  into  battle  with  all  the  courage 
of  despair. 

Matters  soon  began  to  look  grave  outside  the  walls  of 
Thebes.  The  fierce  Kapaneus,  who  had  boasted  that  he  would 
take  the  town  in  spite  of  Zeus  and  all  the  divine  portents,  had 
reached  the  parapet  of  the  walls  on  his  storming  ladder,  when 
a  lightning  bolt  from  Zeus  struck  and  hurled  him  to  the 
ground.  A  general  onset  of  the  Thebans  followed  this- event, 
the  Argive  army  falling  before  them  everywhere,  and  their 
leaders  being  slain.  Eteokles  and  Polyneikes  pierced  each 
other  through  the  body  in  a  hand-to-hand  encounter.  The 
earth,  struck  by  a  lightning  bolt  on  the  spot  where  Amphia- 
raos^stood,  yawned  and  swallowed  him,  from  which  time  for¬ 
ward  he  continued  to  exist  as  a  spirit  endowed  with  the  gift 
of  prophecy.  Adrastos  alone  escaped,  and  that  by  means  of 
the  winged  horse  Arion. 

Kreon,  the  uncle  of  the  fallen  sons  of  CEdipos,  succeeded 
to  the  throne  of  Thebes,  and,  as  his  first  duty,  buried  Eteokles 
with  great  ceremony — a  rite  which  he  at  the  same  time  denied 
to  the  body  of' Polyneikes,  on  pain  of  death  to  any  one  who 
should  perform  it.  The  kindly  heart  of  Antigone  could  not 


282 


HEROES. 


bear  this  sentence,  which  caused  her  brother’s  soul  to  wander 
forever  without  rest  in  the  lower  world ;  and  accordingly  she 
defied  Kreon’s  strict  order,  and  buried  the  corpse  secretly,  as 
she  thought ;  but  his  watchman  having  observed  the  act  she 
was  condemned  to  be  buried  alive — the  fact  of  her  being  be¬ 
trothed  to  his  son,  Hsemon,  and  the  tears  and  entreaties  of 
the  latter,  being  of  no  avail  to  mitigate  her  doom.  Antigone 
was  pent  in  a  subterranean  chamber,  in  which,  to  avoid  the 
pangs  of  starvation,  she  hanged  herself.  Haemon,  unwilling 
to  outlive  her,  put  an  end  to  his  existence,  and  Kreon’s  in¬ 
human  cruelty  was  punished  by  the  desolation  of  his  house, 
by  which  the  family  of  CEdipos  became  extinct. 

Thirty  years  having  elapsed  since  the  expedition  of  the  seven, 
their  sons  undertook  to  avenge  the  death  of  their  fathers  by  a 
second  attack  on  Thebes.  This  was  the  so  called  war  of  the 
Epigoni  (that  is,  “offspring”  orsons),  which  was  entered 
upon  with  the  consent  of  the  gods,  and  ended  in  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  Thebes,  which  for  a  long  time  remained  a  mere  open 
space  called  “Lower  Thebes.” 


THE  TROJAN  WAR. 


283 


0 


THE  TROJAN  WAR. 

THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  WAR. 

Contemporary  with  the  conquest  of  Thebes  by  the  Epigoni, 
which  has  been  related  above,  we  find  on  the  throne  of  Troy, 
or  Ilion,  a  king  named  Priamos,  whose  chief  distinction 
consisted  in  his  being  the  father  of  a  noble  race  of  sons.  His 
wife  was  Hekabe  (or  Hecuba).  When  the  time  approached 
for  another  son  to  be  born  to  them,  their  daughter  Kas- 
sandra,  on  whom  Apollo  had  bestowed  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
announced  that  the  child  would  grow  up  to  be  the  ruin  of  his 
country.  To  prevent  such  a  calamity,  the  infant  was  at  its 
birth  exposed  on  Mount  Ida,  where  it  was  found  and  brought 
up  by  shepherds,  in  whose  society  and  occupation  Paris,  or 
Alexandros,  spent  the  early  part  of  his  life. 

On  a  beautiful  day,  as  he  tended  his  flocks,  three  goddesses 
came  to^  him — Hera,  Athene,  and  Aphrodite — commanding 
him  to  decide  which  of  them  was  the  most  beautiful.  Here 
we  must  explain.  When  Zeus  withdrew,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  from  his  proposed  marriage  with  Thetis,  on  account  of 
a  prophecy  communicated  by  Themis,  that  the  issue  of  such 
a  union  would  be  a  son  who  would  surpass  his  father  in  might, 
it  was  agreed  to  give  the  sea-goddess  in  marriage  to  Peleus,  a 
young  prince  of  Phthia,  in  Thessaly,  whose  piety  had  en¬ 
deared  him  to  the  gods.  “The  gods  came  to  their  marriage 
feast,”  as  they  did  to  that  of  Kadmos  and  Harmonia,  all  but 
Eris,  the  goddess  of  strife.  Angry  at  not  being  invited, 


284 


HEROES. 


she  determined  to  mar  the  pleasantness  of  the  company,  and 
to  this  end  threw  among  them  a  golden  apple,  on  which  was 
written,  “To  the  most  beautiful.”  Hereupon  the  three  god¬ 
desses  mentioned  above  claimed  each  the  prize,  and  Zeus  re¬ 
ferred  them  to  Paris,  the  shepherd  on  Mount  Ida,  for  a  deci¬ 
sion.  Unwilling  at  first  to  take  upon  himself  so  much  re¬ 
sponsibility,  Paris  was  at  length  persuaded  to  decide,  on  being 
promised  the  throne  of  Asia  by  Hera,  immortal  fame  as  a 
hero  by  Athene,  and  the  loveliest  wife  on  earth  by  Aphrodite. 
He  assigned  the  prize  to  the  last-mentioned  goddess,  and  by 
so  doing  drew  upon  himself  and  his  native  country  the  most 
bitter  enmity  of  the  other  two. 

In  the  meantime  it  happened  that  a  sacrifice  was  to  be  of¬ 
fered  in  Troy,  for  which  oxen  were  wanted.  Two  of  the 
king’s  sons,  Hektor  and  Helenos,  were  sent  to  the  herd  on 
Mount  Ida,  to  select  fitting  animals.  Their  choice  included 
one  that  was  a  favourite  of  Paris,  who  boldly  refused  to  give 
it  up,  and  followed  it  to  the  town,  intending  to  demand  its 
restoration  from  the  king;  But  a  quarrel  ensued  on  the  way, 
and  Paris  would  have  fallen  at  his  brothers’  hands,  but  for 
the  timely  appearance  of  Kassandra,  who  revealed  the  story 
of  his  birth.  Then  there  was  joy  in  the  king’s  palace  at  the 
return  of  the  lost  son,  grown  up  as  he  was,  to  be  beautiful, 
handsome,  and  brave.  The  untoward  prophecy  was  forgotten. 

The  sudden  change  from  the  life  of  a  herdsman  to  that  of  a 
prince  surrounded  by  the  pleasures  of  court  and  town,  made 
Paris  oblivious  of  the  visit  of  the  goddesses  and  the  promise 
that  had  been  made  him  of  the  most  beautiful  wife  on  earth. 
But  Aphrodite  meant  to  fulfil  the  promise,  and  to  this  end 
commanded  him  to  have  ships  built  to  sail  to  Hellas,  and  pro¬ 
ceed  to  Sparta,  where,  in  the  person  of  Helena,  he  would 


THE  TROJAN  WAR. 


285 


find  the  wife  in  question.  Paris  obeyed,  and  was  accom¬ 
panied  on  the  journey  by  tineas,  a  son  of  Anchises  and 
the  goddess  Aphrodite. 

Arriving  at  Amyklae,  he  was  met  and  kindly  welcomed  by 
the  Dioscuri,  Kastor  and  Polydeukes  (Pollux),  the  brothers 
of  Helena.  To  the  same  family  (of  which  Zeus  and  Leda 
were  the  parents)  belonged  Klytaemnestra,  the  wife  of 
Agamemnon,  who,  like  her  brother  Kastor,  was  mortal, 
while  the  other  two,  Helena  and  Pollux,  were  immortal.  Of 
the  close  attachment  of  the  two  brothers  to  each  other  there 
is  a  fine  instance  which  we  shall  here  relate,  though  in  point 
of  time  it  did  not  take  place  till  a  little  later.  Being  present, 
according  to  invitation,  at  the  nuptials  of  Lynkeus  and  Idas 
with  Phoebe  and  Hilaeeira,  the  daughters  of  Leukippos, 
they  became  enamoured  of  the.  brides,  and  attempted  to  carry 
them  off.  A  fight  ensued,  in  which  Kastor,  after  slaying 
Lynkeus,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Idas,  whom  Pollux  next  slew 
to  avenge  his  brother’s  death.  Pollux  then  prayed  to  Zeus 
that  he  might  restore  his  brother  to  life,  proposing  as  a  com¬ 
pensation  that  both  should  live  only  on  alternate  days.  Zeus 
granted  the  prayer  with  its  condition.  In  after  times  the  twin- 
brothers  were  regarded  as  divine  beings,  and  supposed  to  ride 
on  white  horses  in  the  sky,  with  dazzling  spears,  and  each 
with  a  star  above  his  brow.  In  storms,  when  a  mariner  saw 
a  ball  of  fire  in  the  air,  he  was  assured  that  the  Dioscuri  were 
near  to  help  him. 

After  spending  some  time  with  the  Dioscuri,  Paris,  accom¬ 
panied  by  .dEneas,  set  out  for  Sparta,  where  he  was  received  by 
the  king,  Menelaos,  and  his  wife,  Helena,  in  the  same  spirit 
of  kindly  hospitality  as  the  brothers  of  the  latter  had  displayed 
at  Amyklse.  Of  Menelaos  we  have  already  mentioned  his 


286 


HEROES. 


descent  from  Atreus.  The  story  of  his  marriage  and  its 
consequences  is  as  follows: — 

Such,  it  would  seem,  had  been  the  astonishing  beauty  and 
grace  of  Helena,  that  even  as  a  young  girl  she  had  captivated 
the  hearts  of  men,  and,  among  others,  of  Theseus,  who  carried 
her  off.  The  Dioscuri,  however,  soon  found  and  brought  her 
back,  taking  with  them  as  a  prisoner,  ^Ethra,  the  mother  of 
Theseus,  and  presenting  her  as  a  servant  to  Helena.  As 
Helena  grew  to  womanhood,  so  numerous  and  so  pressing 
were  the  noble  suitors  for  her  hand,  that  Tyndareus,  her 

foster-father,  became  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  provoking  the 

\ 

hostility  of  so  many,  by  choosing  one  of  them  for  her.  He 
determined,  therefore,  to  allow  her  to  choose  for  herself.  But 
first  he  called  upon  them  all  to  take  an  oath,  not  only  that 
they  would  be  satisfied  with  her  choice,  but  would  assist  her 
husband  then  and  after  in  whatever  danger  or  difficulty  he 
might  be  placed.  She  chose  Menelaos,  the  brother  of  Aga¬ 
memnon,  her  sister’s  husband,  and  the  marriage  was  celebrated 
with  great  pomp.  Tyndareus,  however,  had  omitted  to  offer 
a  sacrifice  to  Aphrodite,  who,  to  punish  him,  made  the  heart 
of  his  foster-daughter  readily  accessible  to  unbridled  love. 

Paris,  as  has  been  said,  was  kindly  received  by  Menelaos, 
and  freely  admitted  to  his  hospitality  and  the  society  of  his 
wife,  Helena,  with  whom  he  soon  formed  an  attachment  which 
deepened  with  time,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  costly  pre¬ 
sents  of  Asiatic  wares  which  he  gave  her.  Menelaos,  meanwhile 
suspecting  nothing,  prepared  to  pay  a  visit  to  Idomeneus  of 
Crete,  leaving  his  wife  under  the  care  of  his  guest.  With  her 
husband  safely  at  a  distance,  Helena  was  readily  persuaded  to 
elope  with  Paris  to  Troy,  to  become  his  wife,  and  there  live  in 
oriental  luxury  and  splendour.  Reaching  the  coast  under  the 


THE  TROJAN  WAR. 


287 


cover  of  night,  they  embarked,  and  after  weathering  a  storm 
sent  by  Hera,  the  goddess  of  marriage  troth,  reached  Troy  in 
safety,  and  were  married  with  great  pomp  and  magnificence. 

To  Menelaos,  at  the  court  of  Idomeneus  in  Crete,  Iris,  the 
divine  messenger,  carried  the  intelligence  of  the  disgrace  that 
had  fallen  on  his  house.  Returning  at  once,  and  having  con¬ 
sulted  his  powerful  brother,  Agamemnon,  he  proceeded  to 
Pylos,  to  seek  the  advice  of  the  aged  Nestor,  whose  reputation 
for  prudence  and  wisdom  throughout  Greece  had  been  acquired 
by  his  services  in  many  wars  in  the  course  of  the  two  prece¬ 
ding  generations,  such  was  his  great  age.  His  counsel  on  this 
occasion  was  that  nothing  short  of  a  combination  of  all  the 
armies  of  Greece  would  be  sufficient  to  punish  the  crime 
that  had  been  committed,  and  recover  the  possession  of 
Helena. 

Acting  on  this  advice,  Menelaos  and  Agamemnon  visited  all 
the  princes  and  heroes  of  the  land,  to  obtain  pledges  of  their  V 
assistance.  Those  who  had  been  suitors  of  Helena  had  been 
bound  by  an  oath  to  assist  Menelaos  whenever  called  upon  by 
him  to  do  so,  and  were  now  ready  to  carry  out  their  engage¬ 
ment.  Others  promptly  offered  their  services,  from  feelings  of 
resentment  at  the  vileness  of  the  act  of  Paris.  Only  in  two 
cases  was  any  difficulty  experienced,  but  they  were  very  im¬ 
portant  cases,  as  it  proved.  The  first  was  that  of  Odysseus 
(Ulysses),  son  of  Laertes,  the  king  of  the  island  of  Ithaka. 

His  beautiful  and  faithful  wife,  Penelope,  had  borne  him  a 
son,  Telemachos,  and  being  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  do¬ 
mestic  felicity,  he  was  unwilling  to  exchange  it  for  a  part  in  a 
war,  the  issue  of  which  appeared  very  dubious.  But  instead 
of  returning  a  blunt  answer,  he  pretended  insanity,  put  on  a 
fisherman’s  hat,  yoked  a  horse  and  an  ox  together,  and  com- 


2  88 


HEROES. 


menced  to  plough.  But  Palamedes,  detecting  the  sham,  set 
the  infant  Telemachos  on  the  ground  in  front  of  the  plough. 
In  saving  the  child  Odysseus  revealed  the  sobriety  of  his 
senses,  and  was  compelled  to  join  the  expedition.  The  other 
case  was  that  of  Achilles,  the  son  of  Peleus  and  Thetis,  a 
nymph  of  the  sea. 

Thetis  having  been  offered  by  the  gods  the  choice  in  behalf 
of  her  son,  of  either  a  long  life  spent  in  obscurity  and  retire¬ 
ment,  or  a  few  years  of  dazzling  martial  fame,  chose  the  life 
of  obscurity,  and  with  that  view  conveyed  him,  dressed  as  a 
girl,  to  the  court  of  Lykomedes,  in  the  island  of  Skyros. 
There  he  was  brought  up  among  the  king’s  daughters,  and 
gained  the  love  of  one  of  them,  Deidamia,  who  bore  him  a 
son,  Neoptolemos,  who  afterwards  took  part  in  the  war  against 
Troy.  Meantime  it  was  known  to  be  of  the  highest  import¬ 
ance  for  the  Trojan  expedition  to  discover  the  concealment  of 
the  young  son  of  Thetis,  and  to  enlist  his  services.  For  that 
purpose  Odysseus  was  sent  in  the  dress  and  character  of  a 
trader  to  Skyros.  On  the  pretext  of  offering  his  trinkets  and 
wares  for  sale  to  the  king’s  daughters,  he  obtained  admittance 
to  the  palace,  and  discovered  Achilles,  disguised  as  he  was. 
Odysseus  ordered  a  magnificent  suit  of  armour  to  be  displayed 
before  the  youth,  and  a  call  to  arms  to  be  sounded  on  a  mili¬ 
tary  horn.  The  scheme  was  successful — an  impulse  to  achieve 
military  glory  seized  upon  Achilles,  who  forthwith  offered  his 
services  to  the  projected  expedition.  Peleus  sent  Patrokjos, 
the  son  of  Mencetios,  to  be  a  companion  for  his  son. 

The  harbour  of  Aulis  was  where  the  various  contingents  of 
ships  and  soldiery  were  appointed  to  assemble;  and  when  they 
had  all  arrived — more  than  1,000  ships,  each  with  at  least  150 
men — it  was  a  sight  such  as  had  never  been  seen  in  Greece 


THE  TROJAN  WAR. 


289 


before.  Agamemnon,  the  most  powerful  prince  in  Greece, 
was  elected  to  the  position  of  commander  of  the  expedition. 

While  the  fleet  lay  in  Aulis,  a  serpent  was  observed  coiling 
itself  round  a  plane-tree,  on  which  was  a  sparrow’s  nest  with 
nine  young  birds.  The  serpent  devoured  the  young  ones,  but 
on  turning  to  the  mother-bird  was  instantly  changed  into  stone. 
Kalchas,  the  high-priest,  was  summoned  to  divine  what  the 
strange  occurrence  might  betoken.  He  replied:  “  Nine  years 
we  must  fight  round  Ilion,  and  on  the  tenth  take  the  town.” 
Thereafter  the  fleet  sailed,  crossed  the  y£gean,  and  landed  by 
mistake  in  Mysia,  which  the  Greeks  prepared  to  lay  waste. 
They  were,  however,  stoutly  opposed  by  the  king  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  Telephos,  a  son  of  Herakles.  In  the  contest  Patroklos 
proved  his  bravery,  fighting  side  by  side  with  Achilles.  He 
received  a  wound,  which  Achilles — thanks  to  his  early  training 
under  the  Centaur  Cheiron,  and  the  knowledge  of  medicine 
then  obtained — was  able  to  cure.  Telephos  also  had  received 
a  wound  from  a  spear  of  Achilles  in  the  engagement,  and, 
finding  that  it  would  not  heal,  consulted  an  oracle  regarding 
it.  The  reply  of  the  oracle  was  that  it  could  be  healed  only 
by  him  who  had  caused  it.  Meantime  another  oracle  was 
communicated  to  the  Greeks,  to  the  intent  that  Telephos 
should  lead  them  to  Troy.  How  this  came  about  we  shall  see 
presently. 

The  Greek  fleet  had  returned  again  to  the  harbour  of  Aulis. 
While  lying  there,  Agamemnon  had  chanced  to  see  a  beautiful 
stag,  sacred  to  Artemis.  His  passion  for  the  chase  led  him  to 
draw  upon  the  stag,  and  kill  it,  while  in  the  pride  of  his  suc¬ 
cess  he  dared  to  boast  that  he  coilld  excel  the  goddess  of  the 
chase  herself.  This  was  the  cause  of  a  series  of  misfortunes 
that  then  befel  him.  The  injured  goddess  first  sent  a  calm 
19 


290 


HEROES. 


which  detained  the  fleet  week  after  week.  In  spite  of  Palame- 
des’  invention  of  the  game  of  draughts  and  other  means  of 
amusement,  the  prolonged  inactivity  began  to  tell  upon  the 
force,  and  to  create  serious  discontent.  At  last  Kalchas,  be¬ 
ing  ordered  to  discover  what  the  gods  desired,  explained  that 
Artemis  required,  on  the  part  of  Agamemnon,  the  sacrifice  of 
his  daughter  Iphigeneia.  His  fatherly  feelings  had  to  yield 
to  his  sense  of  duty  as  commander  of  the  expedition.  He 
sent  a  message  to  his  wife  Klytsemnestra,  to  come  to  Aulis, 
bringing  Iphigeneia  with  her, — to  be  married,  he  said  to 
Achilles.  They  came ;  but  it  was  as  a  victim,  not  as  a  bride, 
that  Agamemnon  led  his  daughter  to  the  altar  of  Artemis. 
The  goddess,  satisfied  with  his  intentions,  suddenly  appeared 
on  the  scene,  provided  a  goat  for  the  sacrifice,  carried  off 
Iphigeneia  in  a  cloud  to  Taurus,  and  appointed  her  to  the 
care  of  her  temple  there.  Klytsemnestra  could  not  forgive 
her  husband  for  the  deception  he  had  practiced.  How  she 
avenged  herself  shall  be  afterwards  related. 

In  consequence  of  the  oracle  concerning  the  wound  which 
he  had  received  from  the  spear  of  Achilles,  Telephos  proceeded 
to  Aulis,  where  the  Greek  fleet  lay,  and  presented  himself  in 
disguise  to  Agamemnon,  seized  his  infant  son,  Orestes,  whom 
Klytsemnestra  had  brought  with  her,  and  threatened  to  slay 
the  child,  if  healing  were  refused  him.  Odysseus  interposed, 
and  scraping  some  of  the  rust  from  the  spear  of  Achilles,  ap¬ 
plied  it  to  the  wound,  and  healed  it.  Thereupon  Telephos 
offered  his  services  in  leading  the  expedition  to  Troy,  and, 
the  oracle  being  thus  fulfilled,  the  Greeks  set  sail  a  second 
time  for  Troy  landing  on  their  way  at  Lemnos,  to  sacrifice  at 
an  altar  raised  there  by  Herakles,  Philoktetes,  who  had  in¬ 
herited  the  bow  and  arrows  of  Herakles,  was  bitten  in  the 


THE  FIRST  YEARS  OF  THE  WAR. 


29I 


foot  by  a  snake,  and  suffered  agony  that  made  him  scream 
continually.  Unable  to  heal  the  wound,  and  unwilling  to 
endure  his  screams,  the  Greeks  left  him  behind,  and  proceeded 
on  their  journey,  reaching  at  last  the  Trojan  shore. 


The  First  Years  of* the  War. 

The  Trojans  having  received  intelligence  of  the  hostile  pre¬ 
parations  of  the  Greeks,  prepared  on  their  part  also  to  meet 
the  enemy,  assembling  in  and  around  the  city  of  Troy  all  the 
forces  they  could  obtain  from  neighbours  and  allies.  Their 
foremost  hero,  whom  they  chose  to  lead  them  in  assaults,  was 
Hektor,  the  eldest  son  of  the  king.  The  first  engagement 
of  the  two  forces  occurred  while  the  Greeks  were  in  the  act  of 
landing  from  their  ships,  the  result  of  it  being  that  the  Trojans 
were  driven  back  within  their  walls,  but  not  without  inflicting 
considerable  loss  on  their  enemy.  The  first  attempt  of  the 
Greeks  to  take  the  town  by  storm  entirely  failed,  and,  finding 
that  the  Trojans  would  not  surrender  Helena  to  her  husband, 
the  Greek  commander  could  see  no  other  means  of  compelling 
them  to  do  so  than  by  a  siege.  Accordingly  a  well-fortified 
camp  was  constructed  round  the  ships,  which  had  been  hauled 
lip  on  the  shore,  and  with  that  camp  to  fall  back  upon,  the 
Greek  army  proceeded  to  lay  waste  the  territory  and  tdwns  in 
the  neighbourhood.  The  Trojan  forces,  acknowledging  the 
superiority  of  the  besiegers,  did  not  seek  a  battle,  and  ex¬ 
cepting  such  incidents  as  when  Achilles  and  Hektor  fought  in 
single  combat,  or  when  Troilos,  the  youngest  son  of  Priam, 
was  captured  and  put  to  death  by  Achilles,  nothing  of  mo¬ 
ment  transpired. 

In  the  course  of  the  raids  made  by  the  Greeks  in  the  neigh- 


292 


HEROES. 


bourhood,  it  happened  that  having  taken  the  town  of  Pedasos, 
and  come  to  divide  the  spoils,  Agamemnon  obtained  as  his 
captive  Chrysei's,  a  daughter  of  Chryses,  the  priest  of 
Apollo  in  the  island  of  Chryse,  while  to  the  lot  of  Achilles 
fell  Briseis,  a  maiden  as  beautiful  as  the  priest's  daughter. 
Chryses  entreated  Agamemnon  to  restore  him  his  daughter, 
offering  a  heavy  ransom  for  her,  but  was  met  with  refusal 
and  contumely.  Having  one  other  resource — an  appeal  to 
the  god  in  whose  service  he  was — Chryses  implored  the  aid 
of  Apollo,  who,  being  for  other  reasons  also  hostile  to  the 
Greeks,  visited  them  with  a  plague  which  carried  them  off  in 
great  numbers.  Agamemnon  called  a  muster  of  the  army, 
and  inquired  of  the  high-priest,  Kalchas,  by  what  the  angry 
god  could  be  appeased.  Kalchas,  being  assured  of  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  Achilles,  boldly  declared  that  the  wrath  of  Apollo 
had  been  caused  by  the  unjust  detention  of  Chryseis,  a 
daughter  of  one  of  the  priests.  Upon  this,  Agamemnon,  who 
had  borne  a  grudge  against  Kalchas  ever  since  the  sacrifice 
of  Iphigeneia,  rated  the  priest  in  reproachful  terms,  charging 
him  also  in  the  present  instance  with  being  in  league  with 
Achilles — a  charge  which  the  latter  would  have  resented  with 
force,  had  not  the  goddess  Athene  interposed.  Agamemnon 
felt  his  dignity  as  king  and  commander  of  the  army  insulted 
by  the  threat  of  Achilles,  and  demanded  as  satisfaction  for 
this  the  person  of  the  beautiful  Briseis,  apparently  to  take  the 
place  of  Chryseis,  whom  he  had  been  compelled  to  give  up. 
Achilles  having  been  warned  by  Athene  to  be  calm,  confessed 
his  inability  to  resist  the  demand,  and  from  that  time  with¬ 
drew  with  all  his  men  from  the  camp. 

Thetis  having  beseeched  Zeus  to  take  measures  to  compel 
Agamemnon  to  atone  for  this  insult  to  her  son,  obtained  a 


THE  FIRST  YEARS  OF  THE  WAR. 


293 


divine  decree  setting  forth  that  so  long  as  Achilles  held  aloof 
the  Greeks  would  be  defeated  in  every  engagement  with  the 
Trojans.  Emboldened  by  the  intelligence  of  the  step  taken 
by  Achilles,  the  Trojans  sallied  from  their  walls,  and  after 
numerous  battles,  skirmishes,  and  personal  encounters,  always 
attended  with  serious  loss  to  the  enemy,  drove  the  Greeks 
back  to  the  shelter  of  their  fortified  camp  beside  the  ships. 
At  last,  abased  and  humiliated  by  disasters,  Agamemnon  sent 
an  embassy  to  Achilles,  offering  to  restore  Briseis,  and  in  ad¬ 
dition  to  bestow  on  him  his  daughter’s  hand,  with  seven  towns 
for  a  dowry.  But  the  wrath  of  Achilles  would  not  relent,  and 
still  the  need  of  his  countrymen  grew  worse. 

The  end  seemed  to  be  near  when  Hektor,  at  the  head  of 
the  Trojans,  had  stormed  the  wall  of  the  camp,  and  set 
several  of  the  ships  on  fire.  Seeing  this,  Patroklos  begged 
Achilles  to  lend  him  his  armour,  and  allow  him  to  lead  the 
Myrmidons  to  the  fight.  The  request  being  granted,  Pa¬ 
troklos  and  his  men  were  soon  in  the  heat  of  the  battle,  their 
sudden  reappearance  striking  the  Trojan  army  with  terror, 
and  causing  it  to  fall  back.  Not  content  with  thus  deciding 
the  battle,  Patroklos,  disregarding  the  advice  of  Achilles, 
pursued  the  enemy  till  Hektor,  turning  round,  engaged  him 
in  a  hand-to-hand  fight,  the  issue  of  which  was  the  death  of 
the  Greek  hero.  Hektor  stripped  him  of  the  armour  of 
Achilles,  which  he  wore,  but  left  the  body  for  tfie  Greeks  to 
take  possession  of.  The  grief  of  Achilles  at  the  loss  of  his 
friend  was  as  violent  as  had  been  his  anger  against  Agamem¬ 
non.  He  called  for  vengeance  on  Hektor,  and  with  the  ob¬ 
ject  in  view  of  obtaining  it,  yielded  to  a  reconciliation  which 
all  the  sufferings  of  his  countrymen  could  not  previously  in¬ 
duce  him  to  submit  to.  With  armour  more  dazzling  and 


294 


HEROES. 


superb  than  had  ever  been  seen  before,  forged  by  the  god  He- 
phaestos,  and  brought  by  Thetis  in  the  hour  of  her  son’s  need, 
he  went  forth  to  battle,  seeking  Hektor  in  the  Trojan  ranks, 
which  everywhere  hurried  back  like  sheep  before  a  wolf.  The 
Trojan  hero  stepped  forth  to  meet  his  adversary,  but  not  with¬ 
out  sad  misgivings.  He  had  said  farewell  to  his  faithful  wife, 
Andromache,  and  to  his  boy,  Astyanax.  But  even  the 
strong  sense  of  duty  to  his  country,  which  had  supported  him 
in  this  domestic  scene,  deserted  him  utterly  when  the  young 
Greek  hero  approached  with  the  dauntless  bearing  of  the  god 
of  war  himself.  Hektor  fled ;  but  Achilles,  having  a  faster  step, 
cut  off  his  retreat,  and  thus  imbued  him  with  the  courage  of 
despair.  The  combat  did  not  last  long,  the  victory  of  Achilles 
being  easily  won. 

Unappeased  by  the  death  of  Hektor,  Achilles  proceeded  to 
outrage  his  lifeless  body  by  binding  it  to  his  war-chariot. 
After  dragging  it  thus  three  times  round  the  walls  of  Troy  in 
the  face  of  the  people,  he  returned  with  it  to  the  Greek  camp, 
and  there  cast  it  among  dust  and  dirt.  Displeased  by  such 
excess  of  passion,  the  gods  took  care  of  Hektor’ s  body,  and 
saved  it  from  corruption,  while  Zeus  in  the  meantime  softened 
the  heart  of  Achilles,  and  prepared  him  for  the  performance 
of  an  act  of  generosity  which  was  to  blot  out  the  memory  of 
his  previous  cruelty.  On  the  one  hand,  Thetis  was  employed 
to  persuade  her  son  to  give  up  the  body  without  a  ransom. 
On  the  other  hand,  Hermes  was  sent  to  bid  Priam  go  stealth¬ 
ily  in  the  night  to  Achilles’  tent,  and  beg  the  body  of  his 
son.  The  aged  king  of  Troy  obeyed,  and  coming  to  the 
young  hero’s  tent,  besought  him,  as  he  valued  his  own  father, 
to  give  him  leave  to  take  away  the  lifeless  body,  and  pay  to  it 
the  customary  rites  of  burial.  Achilles  was  touched  by  the 


THE  DEATH  OF  ACHILLES. 


295 


gentleness  of  his  beseeching,  raised  the  old  man  from  his 
knees,  shared  with  him  the  hospitality  of  his  tent,  and,  in  the 
morning,  hawing  given  up  the  body,  sent  him  back  under  a 
safe  escort.  In  the  pause  of  hostilities  that  took  place  then, 
the  Greeks  buried  the  body  of  Patroklos  with  great  ceremony. 

• 

The  Death  of  Achilles. 

The  loss  of  Hektor  had  so  dispirited  the  Trojans,  that 
without  fresh  succours  they  could  not  face  the  enemy  again. 
Such  succours,  however,  consisting  of  an  army  of  Amazons, 
under  the  command  of  the  beautiful  Penthesilea,  arrived 
in  the  interval  of  mourning  for  Hektor  ‘in  the  one  camp  and 
for  Patroklos  in  the  other.  When  hostilities  commenced 
again,  the  valiant  Penthesilea,  being  eager  to  measure  her 
strength  with  that  of  Achilles,  and  to  avenge  the  death  of 
Hektor,  led  the  Trojan  army  into  battle.  The  leaders  of  the 
Greeks  were  Achilles  and  Ajax,  the  son  of  Telamon.  While 
the  latter  hero  was  engaged  in  driving  back  the  Trojan  ranks, 
Achilles  and  Penthesilea  met  in  single  combat.  He  would 
have  spared  her  willingly,  and  did  not,  till  compelled  in  self- 
defence,  strike  with  all  his  might.  Then  she  fell  mortally 
wounded,  and  as  she  fell,  remembering  the  fate  of  Hektor’s 
body,  implored  Achilles  to  spare  hers  that  disgrace.  There 
was  no  need  of  this ;  for  he,  to  save  her  still  if  possible,  and  if 
not,  to  soothe  her  last  moments,  lifted  her  in  his  arms,  and 
there  held  her  till  she  died.  The  Trojans  and  Amazons  made 
a  combined  rush  to  rescue  the  body  of  their  leader;  but 
Achilles  made  a  sign  to  them  to  halt,  and  praising  her  valour, 
youth,  and  beauty,  gave  it  to  them  freely — a  kindly  act  which 
touched  friends  and  foes  alike.  Among  the  Greeks,  however, 


296 


HEROES. 


there  was  one  Thersites,  mean  and  deformed  in  mind  as  well 
as  body,  who  not  only  dared  to  impute  a  scandalous  motive  to 
Achilles,  but,  approaching  the  fallen  Amazon,  struck  his  spear 
into  her  lightless  eye.  A  sudden  blow  from  Achilles  laid  him 
lifeless  on  the  ground. 

All  who  saw  this  punishment  inflicted  approved  of  it,  except 
Diomedes,  the  son  of  Tydeus,  a  relation  by  blood  of  Ther¬ 
sites,  who  stepped  forward  and  demanded  of  Achilles  the  usual 
reparation,  consisting  of  a  sum  of  money.  Feeling  himself 
deeply  wronged  because  his  countrymen,  and  especially  Aga¬ 
memnon,  did  not  unconditionally  take  his  part  in  the  matter, 
,  Achilles  abandoned  for  a  second  time  the  cause  of  the  Greeks, 
and  took  ship  to  Lesbos.  Odysseus  was  sent  after  him,  and 
by  dint  of  smooth  words,  cleverly  directed,  succeeded  in 
bringing  him  back  to  the  camp. 

What  made  the  return  of  Achilles  more  urgent  at  that  time 
■was  the  arrival  of  a  new  ally  to  the  Trojans,  in  the  person  of 
Memnon,  a  son  of  Eos  (Aurora)  and  Tithonos,  who  besides 
being  the  son  of  a  goddess,  as  well  as  Achilles,  appeared  fur¬ 
ther  to  be  a  proper  match  for  him,  inasmuch  as  he  also  carried 
armour  fashioned  by  Hephsestos.  When  the  two  heroes  met, 
and  were  fighting  fiercely,  Zeus  received  in  Olympos  a  simul¬ 
taneous  visit  from  their  respective  mothers,  Thetis  and  Eos, 
both  imploring  him  to  spare  their  sons.  He  answered  that 
the  issue  must  abide  the  will  of  Fate,  Mcera,  to  discover  which 
he  took  the  golden  balance  for  weighing  out  life  and  death, 
and  placing  in  one  scale  the  fate  of  Achilles  and  in  the  other 
that  of  Memnon,  saw  the  latter  sink  to  denote  his  death.  Eos 
made  haste  to  the  battle-field,  but  found  her  son  dead.  She 
carried  away  his  body,  and  buried  it  in  his  native  land,  in 
the  distant  east. 


THE  DEATH  OF  ACHILLES.  297 

Achilles  did  not  long  enjoy  hie  triumph ;  for,  animated  by 
success,  he  led  on  the  Greeks,  and  would  have  captured  Troy, 
however  clearly  the  Fates  might  have  decreed  the  contrary, 
had  not  Apollo  given  unerring  flight  to  an  arrow  drawn  by 
Paris.  By  that  shaft  from  an  unworthy  source,  as  far  as  could 
be  judged,  Achilles  fell.  Ajax,  the  stout  hero,  and  Odysseus, 
clever  as  well  as  brave,  seized  his  body,  and  fighting  all  the 
way  carried  it  back  to  camp,  where  its  burial  was  attended 
with  extraordinary  pomp  and  ceremonial,  the  Muses  chanting 
dolorous  lays,  and  the  heroes  who  had  known  him  personally 
taking  part,  as  was  the  custom  on  such  occasions,  in  athletic 
competitions.  The  armour  which  he  had  worn  in  the  fight 
was  offered  by  Thetis  to  the  most  deserving.  Only  two  claims 
were  preferred,  and  those  were  on  behalf  of#  the  two  heroes 
who  had  rescued  his  body.  The  award  being  given  in  favour 
of  Odysseus,  Ajax,  from  grief  at  what  he  deemed  neglect,  sank 
into  a  state  of  insanity,  in  the  course  of  which  he  intentionally 
fell  upon  his  sword,  and  died. 

A  cessation  of  hostilities  was  obtained  on  the  death  of 
Achilles  and  Ajax,  the  two  foremost  of  the  Greek  heroes.  This 
period  of  peace  having  expired,  and  the  former  conditions  of 
war  having  been  resumed,  the  first  event  of  importance  that 
occurred  was  the  capture  of  Helenos,  a  son  of  Priam,  who, 
like  his  sister,  Kassandra,  was  endowed  with  the  gift  of  pro¬ 
phecy.  Odysseus,  who  had  made  the  capture,  compelled 
Helenos  to  disclose  the  measures  by  which  it  was  decreed  that 
the  siege  should  be  brought  to  a  determination.  The  answer 
was,  that  to  take  the  city  of  Troy,  and  thus  close  the  siege, 
three  things  were  necessary:  i,  the  assistance  of  the  son  of 
Achilles,  Neoptolemos  ;  2,  the  bow  and  arrows  of  Herakles  ; 
3,  the  possession  of  the  Palladium  (an  image  of  the  goddess 


298 


HEROES. 


Pallas- Athene),  which  was  carefully  preserved  in  the  citadel  of 
Troy.  In  satisfying  the  first  condition  no  difficulty  was  ex¬ 
perienced.  Odysseus,  always  ready  to  be  of  service  for  the 
common  good,  proceeded  to  Skyros,  where  he  found  Neop- 
tolemos  grown  to  manhood,  and  thirsting  for  martial  renown. 
A  present  of  the  splendid  armour  which  his  father,  Achilles, 
had  worn  and  which  Odysseus  now  magnanimously  parted 
with,  fired  the  youth’s  ambition,  and  led  him  easily  to  Troy, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  in  a  combat  with  Eurypylos 
(a  son  of  Telephos),  who  had  joined  the  Trojan  ranks. 

A  more  serious  matter  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  second  con¬ 
dition,  seeing  that  the  bow  and  arrows  of  Herakles  were  then 
in  the  possession  of  Philoktetes,  whom,  as  we  have  already 
said,  the  Greeks  abandoned  at  Lemnos,  not  caring  to  endure 
the  screams  caused  by  the  wound  in  his  foot.  His  feelings 
were  known  to  be  rancorous  towards  the  Greeks.  Notwith¬ 
standing  that,  Odysseus,  accompanied  by  Diomedes  (or,  as 
others  say,  by  Neoptolemos),  went  to  Lemnos,  and  successfully 
tricked  Philoktetes  into  following  him  to  Troy,  where  his 
wound  was  healed  by  Machaeon,  a  son  of  Asklepios,  and  a 
reconciliation  was  effected  between  him  and  Agamemnon. 
The  first  on  whom  his  fatal  arrows  were  tried  was  Paris,  after 
whose  death  Helena  married  his  brother,  Deiphobos.  The 
Trojans  were  now  completely  shut  up  within  the  town,  no  one 
daring  to  face  the  arrows  of  Philoktetes. 

There  remained,  however,  a  third  condition — the  seizure 
of  the  Palladium.  Odysseus,  successful  in  the  other  two,  and 
undaunted  by  the  greater  difficulty  of  the  new  adventure,  pro¬ 
posed  to  steal  alone  within  the  walls  of  Troy  in  the  disguise 
of  a  beggar,  and  as  a  first  measure  to  find  out  where  the  Pal¬ 
ladium  was  preserved.  He  did  so,  and  remained  unrecognized 


THE  CAPTURE  OF  TROY. 


299 


except  by  Helena,  who,  having,  felt  ever  since  the  death  of 
Paris  a  yearning  for  Menelaos,  proved  to  be  a  valuable  ally. 
Odysseus,  in  the  meantime,  returned  to  the  Greek  camp  to 
obtain  the  assistance  of  Diomedes.  The  two  having  made 
their  way  back  to  Troy,  laid  hold  of  the  Palladium,  and,  car¬ 
rying  it  off  in  safety,  fulfilled  the  third  and  last  condition. 

The  next  difficulty  was  the  plan  of  assault  to  be  adopted. 
It  was  proposed  by  Odysseus,  on  the  suggestion  of  the  god¬ 
dess  Athene,  that  Epeios,  a  famous  sculptor,  should  make  a 
great  wooden  horse,  sufficiently  large  to  hold  inside  a  number 
of  the  bravest  Greeks,  and  that  the  horse  being  ready,  and 
the  heroes  concealed  within  it  beyond  detection,  the  whole 
Greek  army  should  embark  and  set  sail,  as  if  making  home¬ 
ward.  The  plan  of  Odysseus  was  agreed  to,  and  great  was 
the  joy  of  the  Trojans  when  they  saw  the  fleet  set  sail.  The 
people,  scarcely  trusting  their  eyes,  flocked  to  the  abandoned 
camp,  to  make  sure.  There  they  found  nothing  remaining 
but  a  great  wooden  horse,  about  the  use  of  which  various 
opinions  arose — some  thinking  it  an  engine  of  war,  and  de¬ 
manding  its  instant  destruction.  But  the  opinion  that  pre¬ 
vailed  most  was  that  it  must  have  been  an  object  of  religious 
veneration,  and  if  so,  ought  to  be  taken  into  the  city.  Among 
those  who  thought  otherwise  was  Laokoon,  a  priest  of  Apollo, 
who  had  arrived  on  the  scene,  accompanied  by  his  two  young 
sons,  to  offer  a  sacrifice  to  the  god  in  whose  service  he  was. 
Laokoon  warned  his  countrymen  in  no  case  to  accept  this  gift 
of  the  Greeks,  and  went  so  far  as  to  thrust  his  spear  into  the 
belly  of  the  horse,  upon  which  the  weapons  of  the  heroes 
within  were  heard  to  clash,  and  the  bystanders  were  all  but 
convinced  of  the  justice  of  the  priest’s  opinion.  But  the  gods 
had  willed  it  otherwise,  and  to  turn  the  opinion  of  the  people 


f 


300  HEROES. 

against  Laokoon,  sent  a  judgment  upon  him  in  the  shape  of 
two  enormous  serpents,  which,  while  he  and  his  two  sons  were 
engaged  in  sacrificing  at  an  altar  by  the  shore,  issued  from 
the  sea,  and  casting  their  coils  round  the  two  boys  first,  then 
round  the  father,  who  came  to  their  assistance,  caused  him  to 
die  in  great  agony.  The  scene  is  reDresented  in  a  marble 
group  now  in  the  Vatican,  from  which  the  figure  in  Plate 
XXXIV.  is  taken.  The  mysterious  fate  of  Laokoon  was 
readily  believed  to  be  a  punishment  for  the  violence  he  had 
done  to  the  sacred  horse. 

But  to  carry  out  effectually  the  stratagem  of  the  horse, 
Odysseus  had  left  behind  on  the  shore  his  friend  Sinon,  with 
his  hands  bound,  and  presenting  all  the  appearance  of  a  victim 
who  had  escaped  sacrifice,  which  he  professed  to  be.  The 
good  king  Priam  was  touched  by  the  piteous  story  which  Sinon 
told,  ordered  his  bonds  to  be  struck  off,  and  inquired  the 
purpose  of  the  horse.  Sinon  replied  that  it  was  a  sacred 
object,  and  would,  if  taken  into  the  city,  be  a  guarantee  of 
the  protection  of  the  gods,  as  the  Palladium  had  been  before. 
The  city  gates  being  too  small,  part  of  the  wall  was  broken 
through,  and  the  horse  conducted  in  triumph  towards  the 
citadel.  This  done,  the  Trojans,  believing  that  the  Greeks 
had  abandoned  the  siege  in  despair,  gave  way  to  festivity  and 
general  rejoicing,  which  lasted  well  into  the  night. 

When  the  town  had  become  perfectly  quiet,  the  inhabitants, 
exhausted  by  the  unusual  excitement,  being  fast  asleep,  Sinon 
approached  the  horse,  and  opened  a  secret  door  in  its  side. 
The  heroes  then  stepped  out,  and  made  a  fire  signal  to  the 
fleet,  which  lay  concealed  behind  the  neighbouring  island  of 
Tenedos,  and  now  advanced  quietly  to  the  shore.  The  troops 
having  disembarked  and  made  their  way  silently  to  the  city, 


THE  DEATH  OF  AGAMEMNON. 


3QI 


there  ensued  a  fearful  slaughter,  the  surprised  inhabitants 
falling  thickly  before  the  well-armed  Greeks.  Finally  the 
town  was  set  on  fire  in  every  corner,  and  utterly  destroyed. 
Priam  fell  by  the  hand  of  Neoptolemos.  The  same  fate  befel 
the  son  of  Hektor — not  for  anything  that  he  had  done,  but 
that  he  might  not  grow  up  to  avenge  his  father’s  death.  Of 
the  few  Trojans  who  escaped  were  JEneas,  his  father  Anchises, 
and  his  infant  son  Askanios.  Carrying  his  aged  father  on  his 
shoulders,  HEneas  fled  towards  Mount  Ida,  and  thence  to 
Italy,  where  he  became  the  founder  of  a  new  race. 

Menelaos  became  reconciled  to  his  now  penitent  wife, 
Helena,  and  took  her  back  with  him.  The  Trojan  women  of 
rank  and  beauty  were  distributed  among  the  Greek  heroes  as 
captives  in  war,  Neoptolemos  obtaining  Andromache,  the 
widow  of  Hektor,  and  Agamemnon  carrying  off  Priam’s 
daughter,  Kassandra.  The  extensive  booty  from  the  king’s 
palaces  having  been  divided,  preparations  were  made  for 
returning  home.  While  some — as,  for  example,  Nestor, 
Idomeneus,  Diomedes,  Philoktetes,  and  Neoptolemos — had 
favourable  voyages,  and  reached  their  respective  homes  in 
safety,  others,  like  Menelaos,  were  driven  hither  and  thither 
by  storms,  which  delayed  their  passage  for  years.  But  the 
heroes  to  whose  return  the  greatest  interest  attaches,  were 
Agamemnon  and  Odysseus. 

Agamemnon,  returning  after  an  absence  of  ten  years,  found 
that  his  wife,  Klytaemnestra,  had  in  the  meantime  accepted  as 
her  husband  ./Egisthos,  a  son  of  Thyestes,  and  therefore  of 
an  accursed  line.  These  two  proposed  to  compass  the  death 
of  Agamemnon ;  and  he,  though  warned  of  their  designs  by 
Kassandra,  whose  prophetic  power  enabled  her  to  foresee  the 
issue,  lent  himself  easily  to  their  purpose,  innocently  accepting 


3°2 


HEROES. 


as  genuine  his  wife’s  expression  of  joy.  He  entered  the  warm 
bath  that  had  been  prepared  for  him,  but  on  coming  out  of  it, 
found  himself  entangled  in  a  piece  of  cloth  which  his  wife 
threw  over  his  head.  In  this  helpless  condition  he  was  slain 
by  her  and  zEgisthos,  Kassandra  and  many  of  his  followers 
perishing  with  him.  His  young  son  Orestes  contriving  to 
escape  with  the  help  of  his  sister  Elektra,  fled  to  Phokis, 
where  he  was  received  hospitably,  and  remained  several  years, 
during  which  ./Egisthos  ruled  over  Argos  on  the  throne  of 
Agamemnon. 

A  few  years  after  the  murder  of  Agamemnon  an  oracle  of 
Apollo  was  communicated  to  Orestes,  commanding  him  to 
revenge  that  foul  deed,  and  promising  the  assistance  of  the 
god.  Without  being  recognized  he  arrived  at  Mykense,  ac¬ 
companied  by  his  faithful  friend  Pylades,  and  there  revealed 
himself  to  his  sister  Elektra,  while  to  his  mother  he  professed 
to  be  a  messenger  come  with  intelligence  of  the  death  of  her 
son  Orestes.  Seeing  her  and  Higisthos  rejoice  at  the  news, 
he  was  enraged,  and  slew  her,  while  her  husband  fell  at  the 
hands  of  Pylades. 

The  shedding  of  a  mother’s  blood  was  regarded  as  the 
blackest  crime  on  earth ;  and  though  the  fact  that  Orestes  had 
perpetrated  the  deed  to  avenge  the  murder  of  his  father,  and 
at  the  instigation  of  Apollo,  went  far  to  exculpate  him,  it  did 
not  satisfy  the  malignant  Erinys  (Furies),  who  pursued  him 
from  land  to  land,  permitting  no  peace  to  his  throbbing  heart. 
Arriving,  in  the  course  of  his  wanderings,  at  Delphi,  Orestes 
complained  to  Apollo  of  his  sufferings,  and  was  told  by  the 
god  that  he  might  expect  relief  if  he  could  fetch  the  ancient 
statue  of  the  goddess  Artemis  from  Taurus.  The  difficulty  of 
the  task  consisted  in  this,  that  it  was  the  practice  of  the  Tauric 


3°3 


ORESTES. 


Artemis  to  secure  the  immolation  of  all  strangers  that  ap¬ 
proached  her  temple.  Fortunately  for  Orestes,  as  it  happened, 
his  sister  Iphigeneia  held  the  office  of  priestess  there,  having 
been  carried  away,  as  we  have  already  seen,  by  the  goddess  at 
the  moment  when  she  was  to  be  sacrificed  by  her  father  Aga¬ 
memnon.  On  arriving  at  the  temple,  Orestes,  who  was  accom¬ 
panied  by  Pylades,  was  seized,  and  would  have  been  sacrificed 
by  the  hand  of  his  own  sister,  had  not  an  accident  revealed 
the  relationship.  He  told  her  all  that  had  happened,  and 
how  Apollo  had  commanded  him  to  carry  away  the  statue  of 
the  goddess.  With  the  assistance  of  Iphigeneia  he  obtained 
possession  of  the  image,  and  in  her  company  returned  with  it 
to  Greece. 

The  task  imposed  by  Apollo  was  accomplished,  but  still 
the  relentless  Furies  continued  to  persecute  the  unhappy 
youth.  Apollo  then  advised  him  to  proceed  to  Athens,  and 
there  to  call  for  a  trial  in  the  Areopagus,  a  court  appointed 
to  hear  causes  of  murder,  especially  the  murder  of  a  relative. 
(See  “Ares”).  The  goddess  Athene  appealed  for  justice  in 
his  behalf.  Apollo  defended  him  at  the  trial.  The  Erinys 
appeared  as  plaintiffs.  When  the  pleadings  had  been  heard, 
and  the  votes  of  the  judges  came  to  be  taken,  they  were  found 
to  be  equally  divided  for  and  against.  The  right  of  giving 
the  casting  vote  was  reserved  on  this  occasion  for  Athene, 
who,  stepping  forward,  took  up  a  white  voting-stone,  and 
placing  it  among  the  votes  favourable  to  Orestes,  declared  his 
lawful  acquittal.  The  Erinys  professed  themselves  appeased, 
desisted  from  persecution,  and  from  that  time  enjoyed  the 
title  of  Eumenides.  (See  “  Erinys”).  Thus  acquitted,  and 
purified  from  the  stains  of  crime,  Orestes  ascended  the  throne 
of  his  father  Agamemnon,  in  Mykense,  married  Hermione, 


3°4 


HEROES. 


the  daughter  of  Helena  and  Menelaos,  and  at  their  death  sue- 
*  ceeded  to  the  dominion  of  Sparta  also. 

Turning  now  to  Odysseus,  we  find  him,  long  after  the  other 
heroes  of  the  Trojan  expedition  had  reached  their  homes,  still 
being  tossed  about  by  storms,  passing  through  great  perils, 
encountering  strange  beings,  and  ultimately  succeeding  in 
many  unhopeful  adventures.  He  had  left  Troy  with  a  well- 
manned  fleet  richly  laden  with  spoil,  and  after  several  ad¬ 
ventures  of  less  moment,  in  which,  however,  he  lost  a  number 
of  men,  reached  the  country  of  the  Kyklopes — enormous 
giants  with  only  one  eye.  In  a  cave  which  was  the  habitation 
of  one  of  them,  Polyphemos  by  name,  a  son  of  the  sea- 
god  Poseidon,  Odysseus  and  his  fellow-travellers  took  shelter, 
while  their  ships  lay  anchored  beside  a  neighbouring  island. 
Polyphemos,  who  was  absent  at  the  time  of  their  arrival, 
returned  with  his  sheep  to  the  cave.  The  first  thing  he  did 
on  entering  was  to  close  up  the  entrance  with  a  great  stone, 
which  a  hundred  men  could  not  h^ve  moved.  The  next  thing 
was,  having  discovered  the  strangers,  to  eat  two  of  them  for 
his  supper,  after  which  he  slept  soundly.  The  following 
morning,  after  driving  out  his  sheep,  he  replaced  the  stone  at  - 
the  mouth  of  the  cave,  to  prevent  the  escape  of  his  victims, 
and  the  consequent  loss  of  several  suppers.  The  history  of 
the  first  day  having  repeated  itself  on  the  two  following  days, 
a  plan  of  escape  occurred  to  Odysseus.  The  giant  having 
had  his  usual  supper,  Odysseus  offered  him  some  wine,  which 
had  the  effect  of  creating  a  desire  for  more.  His  goblet 
being  constantly  replenished,  Polyphemos  at  last  sank  help¬ 
less,  through  sleep  and  intoxication.  Seeing  this,  Odysseus, 
with  the  help  of  his  companions,  laid  hold  of  a  great  pole, 
and  having  made  the  end  of  it  red  hot,  let  it  down  on  the 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  ODYSSEUS. 


305 


giant’s  eye,  and  burned  it  out.  Polyphemos  sprang  up  in 
great  fury,  and  after  groping  in  vain  for  his  supple  enemies, 
made  for  the  doorway  of  the  cave,  removed  the  stone,  and 
sat  down  in  its  place,  determined  to  permit  no  one  to  escape. 
But  Odysseus  and  his  companions  fastened  themselves  each 
under  the  belly  of  one  of  the  great  sheep  within  the  cave, 
knowing  that  the  giant  would  let  them  pass  out  unmolested. 
And  so  it  was;  for,  feeling  the  fleece  as  they  passed,  he  was 
quite  satisfied.  Odysseus  once  outside  the  cave,  and  with 
what  remained  of  his  crew  safe  in  the  ship,  shouted  jeeringly 
back  to  the  Kyklops,  telling  him  also  his  name.  Polyphemos 
then  implored  his  father,  the  god  Poseidon,  to  punish  Odys¬ 
seus  for  what  he  had  just  done.  It  was  in  answer  to  this 
prayer  that  Odysseus  was  driven  hither  and  thither,  detained 
here  and  there,  and  at  last,  after  ten  years’  wandering,  and 
.the  loss  of  all  his  men,  reached  home  in  a  miserable  plight. 

Of  the  adventures  that  befel  him  after  leaving  the  country 
of  the  Kyklopes,  the  most  important  were  the  following: — 
After  leaving  iEolos,  the  king  of  the  winds,  and  suffering  the 
misfortune  already  related  (see  “ Polos’’),  he  reached  the 
habitation  of  the  sorceress  Circe  (a  sister  of  Medea,  it  was 
said),  whose  first  act  was  to  transform  his  companions  into 
swine.  For  Odysseus  himself  her  charms  had  no  potency. 
He  compelled  her  to  restore  his  men  to  their  proper  human 
form.  Changing  her  manner,  Circe  now  exhibited  a  cordial 
feeling  towards  Odysseus,  entertaining  him  and  his  companions 
very  hospitably  for  the  period  of  a  year,  on  the  expiry  of  which 
she  advised  him  to  make  a  journey  to  the  lower  world,  to  ques¬ 
tion  the  shade  of  the  seer  Teiresias  as  to  the  fate  in  store  for 
him.  Acting  on  her  advice,  Odysseus  penetrated  to  the  region 

of  Hades,  saw  and  conversed  with  the  shades  of  some  of  his 
20  * 


306 


HEROES. 


former  companions  in  the  siege  of  Troy,  and  then  returned  to 
Circe,  who  gave  him  good  counsel  in  regard  to  his  future 
journey.  On  his  voyage  homeward  he  passed  the  Sirens 
safely  (see  “Sirens”),  passed  Scylla  the  sea-monster,  with  loss 
of  six  men,  and  afterwards,  in  spite  of  the  warnings  both  of 
Teiresias  and  Circe,  landed  on  the  island  of  Trinakia,  where 
his  companions  plundered  the  sacred  flocks  of  the  sun-god. 
As  a  punishment  for  this  they  were  afterwards  overtaken  by  a 
fearful  storm  at  sea,  and  all  perished  except  Odysseus,  who, 
clinging  to-a  piece  of  his  ship  for  nine  days,  was  at  length 
driven  on  shore  on  the  island  belonging  to  the  nymph  Kalypso, 
who  received  him  kindly,  and  out  of  love  detained  him  as  her 
prisoner  for  seven  years. 

Despising  her  love  and  her  offer  of  immortality,  Odysseus 
sat  disconsolate  by  the  sea-shore,  thinking  of  his  home  in 
Ithaka,  and  yearning  to  see  it  again  before  he  died.  The  gods* 
taking  compassion  on  him,  prevailed  on  Kalypso  to  let  him 
go.  He  made  a  raft,  and  put  to  sea;  but  Poseidon,  not  yet 
appeased  for  the  wrong  done  to  his  son  Polyphemos,  raised  a 
storm  which  shattered  the  small  craft,  and  would  have  caused 
Odysseus  to  perish  but  for  the  timely  aid  of  the  sea-nymph 
Leukothea.  Swimming  to  land,  he  found  himself  in  the 
island  of  the  Phaeakians,  was  discovered  on  the  shore  by  the 
king’s  daughter,  Nausikaa,  and  entertained  hospitably  by  the 
king,  Alkinoos,  to  whom  he  related  his  adventures.  After  re¬ 
ceiving  many  costly  presents,  he  was  conveyed  home  to  Ithaka 
in  a  well-manned  ship.  There  he  found  his  wife,  Penelope, 
still  faithful  to  him,  in  spite  of  the  incessant  wooing  of  all  the 
princes  of  the  neighbouring  islands  in  the  course  of  her 
husband’s  long  absence. 

His  son,  Telemachos,  whom  he  left  an  infant,  had  now 


ROMULUS  AND  REMUS. 


307 


grown  to  manhood,  and  having  just  arrived  from  a  journey- 
in  search  of  intelligence  concerning  his  missing  father,  was 
staying  in  the  house  of  a  shepherd  when  Odysseus  arrived,  and 
heard  the  story  of  how  the  suitors  of  Penelope  were  vexing 
her  and  consuming  her  husband’s  possessions.  Odysseus  and 
his  son  appeared  among  them  in  disguise,  raised  a  quarrel, 
and  with  the  help  of  Athene,  slew  them  all.  Then  took  place 
the  touching  meeting  with  his  wife.  After  crushing  an  in¬ 
surrection  raised  by  the  friends  of  the  slain  suitors,  Odysseus 
spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  reigning  peacefully  over  his  island 
kingdom  of  Ithaka. 

ROMULUS  AND  REMUS. 

The  Romans  had  no  heroes  in  the  sense  in  which  we  have 
come  to  regard  that  word  from  a  study  of  the  Greek  legends. 
Romulus  and  Remus,  it  is  true,  have  a  legendary  character, 
which  may  be  compared  in  some  respects  with  that  of  several 
Greek  heroes.  They  were  the  offspring  of  a  god  (Mars)  and  a 
vestal  virgin.  They  were  exposed  to  death  at  their  birth, 
were  suckled  by  a  she-wolf,  were  preserved  and  brought  up 
among  herdsmen.  On  arriving  at  manhood,  they  returned  to 
claim  their  inheritance,  and  founded  the  city  of  Rome,  Romu¬ 
lus  naming  it  after  himself.  They  instituted  festivals — the 
Palilia  and  Lupercalia — the  latter  to  commemorate  their 
having  been  nourished  by  a  wolf.  They  established  the 
priesthood  of  Arval  Brothers.  Remus,  less  fortunate  in  his 
adventures,  was  slain.  His  brother  Romulus  was  at  last  car¬ 
ried  up  bodily  to  heaven  in  the  presence  of  the  people,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning.  A  simple  hut 
on  the  Palatine  hill  was  preserved  with  veneration  as  the 


3°8 


HEROES. 


sanctuary  of  Romulus.  But  the  demand  for  historical  truth, 
or  the  appearance  of  it,  was  too  strong  in  Rome  to  permit  a 
poetic  embellishment  of  the  story,  such  as  it  would  have  ex¬ 
perienced  in  Greece. 

HORATIUS  COCLES. 

The  ancient  Roman  ballads  sang  of  the  brave  Horatius, 
who  had  fought  so  well  in  the  old  wars  raised  by  the  exiled 
Royal  family  and  their  partisans.  A  golden  statue  of  him 
stood  in  the  market-place,  and  beside  it  sacrifice  was  offered 
in  his  memory.  Such  honours  were  the  same  as  were  ap¬ 
pointed  for  Greek  heroes.  But  the  story  of  the  deeds  of 
Horatius  wanted,  nevertheless  the  true  legendary  character, 
and  was  probably  accepted  by  the  people  with  more  of  pride 
than  pious  feeling. 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


NLIKE  their  Aryan  kinsfolk — the  Greeks — the  Teutons 


v-'  were  not  a  literary  people.  Their  mythical  tales  were 
preserved  not  in  books,  but  in  memory.  And  Christianity, 
as  represented  alike  by  the  missionaries  and  by  Charlemagne 
himself,  did  its  best  to  destroy  Teutonic  paganism  root  and 
branch.  Hence  it  happens  that  of  the  myths  of  the  gods  and 
heroes  of  those  great  nations  who,  in  pre-Christian  times,  in¬ 
habited  the  territories  now  included  under  the  general  name 
Germany,  no  complete  and  systematic  account  has  been  trans¬ 
mitted  to  modern  times. 

But  the  old  Germans  were  of  the  same  race  with  the  people 
of  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark.  Their  speech  was  essen¬ 
tially  the  same.  They  had  the  same  social  and  domestic 
customs,  and  the  same  religion.  Further,  during  the  time 
when  Christianity  was  spreading  over  Germany  and  Scandina¬ 
via,  that  exodus  of  the  Norsemen  was  likewise  taking  place 
which  ended  in  the  colonization  of  Iceland — or  Snowland,  as 
it  was  also  named  by  its  discoverers  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century.  There,  “on  the  verge,”  as  Dr.  Dasent  says,  “of 
the  polar  circle,”  the  Vikings  established  their  little  indepen¬ 
dent  principalities  or  republics ;  unmeddled  with  by  Christian 


3°  9 


3IQ 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


priests,  and  disdaining  the  continental  kings  who  were  aping 
the  customs  of  the  new  times,  the  Icelandic  Norsemen  pre¬ 
served,  for  five  centuries  more,  the  pure  faith  of  their  fore¬ 
fathers. 

Lastly  there  appears  to  have  been  less  antagonism,  less 
friction,  between  the  two  rival  religions — Odinism  and  Chris¬ 
tianity — in  Iceland  than  in  other  countries.  Its  Christian 
priests  would  seem  to  have  felt  the  loyalty  of  children  towards 
their  old  faith,  then  dying  away.  Hence,  in  a  measure,  the 
complete  and  systematic  form  in  which  the  Icelanders  were 
able  to  leave  a  permanent  record  of  their  mythology.  It  was 
a  Christian  priest — Sigmund  Sigfusson — who,  in  the  middle 
of  the  eleventh  century,  composed  the  compilation  of  mythi¬ 
cal  poems  known  as  the  elder  Edda.  To  the  succeeding 
century  belongs  the  younger  Edda,  which  is  merely  a  prose 
rendering  of  those  portions  of  the  first  work  which  narrate  the 
creation  of  the  world  and  man,  and  the  generation,  adventures, 
functions,  and  ultimate  fate  of  the  gods.  As  a  cosmogony 
and  theogony  this  Edda,  or,  as  the  word  might  be  para¬ 
phrased,  “Tales  of  a  Grandmother,’ ’  is  as  complete  even  as 
its  Greek  prototype,  the  Theogony  of  Hesiod.  And  as  a  re¬ 
cord  and  expression  of  the  spiritual  life  of  those  Teutons,  who 
also  were  the  progenitors  of  our  English  race,  it  is,  or  surely 
ought  to  be,  incomparably  more  interesting. 

THE  CREATION. 

\ 

In  the  prose  Edda,  Ginki,  the  wise  king,  travels  in  search  of 
knowledge  to  the  home  of  the  Asa  folk — the  Norse  gods — 
each  of  whom  supplies  the  visitor  with  some  piece  of  special 
information.  The  cosmogonic  history  thus  patched  up  between 


THE  CREATION. 


311 


them  closely  corresponds  in  main  points  with  that  contained  in 
the  Hesiodic  poem ;  while  its  special  details,  tone,  and  colour¬ 
ing  are  the  expression  of  special  climatic  conditions.  Where 
the  earth  now  is  there  was  in  the  beginning,  says  the  Edda,  no 
sand,  sea,  or  grass,  but  only  an  empty  space  (Ginnunga-gap), 
on  whose  north  side  lay  the  region  of  mist,  ice,  and  snow, 
(Niflheim)  and  on  its  south  side  the  region  of  warmth  and 
sunlight,  (Muspelheim).  The  warm  breaths  from  the  sun-land 
caused  the  ice  to  melt,  and  topple  over  into  Ginnunga-gap ; 
and  from  the  matter  so  accumulated  sprang  the  huge  Ymir,  an¬ 
cestor  of  the  Reimthursen,  Rime,  or  Frost, — giants.  Ymir 
fed  on  the  milk  of  the  cow  Audhumbla,  whose  name,  it  may 
be  observed,  in  the  Zendavesta,  stands  indifferently  for 
11  cow  ”  or  mother-earth.  The  cow  herself  lived  by  licking 
the  ice-blocks ;  from  which,  in  consequence  of  the  licking, 
was  produced  Bori,  who  is  alike  the  fashioner  of  the  world, 
and  the  father  of  Bor,  who  was  the  father  of  Odin.  Odin's 
brothers  were  Wili  and  We  :  and  just  as  in  Hesiod  the  deities 
Zeus,  Poseidon,  and  Hades  supplant  Kronos,  so  the  sons  of 
Bori  overthrow  and  succeed  the  primitive  dynasty  of  Ymir 
and  the  Frost  Giants.  Also,  the  dead  Ymir  is  turned  to  ac¬ 
count  similarly  with  the  dead  Kronos.  His  flesh  becomes 
earth;  his  blood,  the  sea;  his  bones,  the  mountains;  his 
teeth,  cliffs  and  crags ;  his  skull,  the  heavens,  wherein  his 
brains  float  in  the  form  of  clouds.  The  heavens,  are  sup¬ 
ported  by  four  Dwarves — Austri  (east),  Westri  (west)  Nordri 
(north),  and  Sudri  (south)  ;  and  the  stars  in  it  are  the  sparks 
from  the  fire-land  of  Muspelheim.  The  new  world  thus 
fashioned  was  called  Midgard,  as  being  placed  midway  be- 
tween  the  lands  of  frost  and  fire.  To  preserve  it  and  its  in¬ 
habitants  from  the  giants,  who  dwelt  in  Jotunheim,  Gdin  and 


312 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


his  brother  surrounded  it  with  a  fence  made  from  the  eye¬ 
brows  of  Ymir.  The  inhabitants  themselves  were  said  to  have 
been  produced  from  two  pieces  of  wood  which  the  brothers 
found  floating  on  the  sea,  and  changed  into  a  man,  whom 
they  named  Ash,  and  a  woman,  whom  they  named  Embla. 

From  this  middle  world,  or  Midgard,  arose  the  Norse 
Olympos,  or  Asgard,  whereon  dwelt  the  Asa  folk — Odin  and 
the  twelve  Aesir.  It  contained  two  mansions— Gladsheim  for 
the  gods,  and  Vingolf  for  the  goddesses.  There  also  was 
Walhalla,  wherein  Odin  placed  one-half  of  the  heroes  slain 
in  battle,  the  other  half  being  received  by  Freija,  the  wife  of 
Odin.  Besides  those  already  named  there  were,  as  the  Edda 
says,  other  homesteads,  such  as  Elfheim,  where  the  elves 
dwelt ;  Breidablick,  where  dwelt  the  bright  and  beautiful,  far- 
seeing  Baldur ;  Himinbiorg,  or  the  Heaven-tower  of  the 
thunder-god  Thor;  and  Valaskialf,  whence  Odin  could  watch 
all  gods  and  men.  The  gods  also  met  in  daily  council  beneath 
the  branches  of  the  tree  Yggdrasil,  one  of  whose  roots  grew 
in  Asgard,  the  second  in  Niflheim,  and  the  third  in  the  realm 
of  Hela,  or  Death  :  and  their  way  thither  lay  over  the  bright 
Asa-bridge,  or  Bifraust,  or  Rainbow,  which  was  said  to  burn 
all  a-fire,  so  as  to  keep  away  the  Frost  giants  of  Jotunheim. 
Lastly,  the 


LOWER  WORLD 

was  ruled  by  the  goddess  Hel ;  and  to  it  were  consigned  those 
who  had  not  died  in  battle.  It  was  so  far  away  that  Odin’s 
swift  horse  Sleipnir  took  nine  nights  to  reach  it.  The  river 
Gioll — the  Norse  Styx — surrounded  this  lower  world  on  every 
side.  Nastrand  was  the  name  of  the  worst  spot  in  the  Norse 
hell.  Its  roofs  and  doors  were  wattled  with  hissing  snakes, 


I 


* 


II'  II  ' 

»  .Rjf,  l 

' 


XXXV 


THE  AESIR. - ODIN. 


3*3 


ejecting  poison,  through  which  perjurers  and  murderers  were 
forced  to  wade  by  way  of  punishment. 

THE  AESIR, 

Whose  thrones  were  in  Gladsheim,  were  twelve  in  number. 
Their  names  were — Thor,  Baldr,  Freyr,  Tyr,  Bragi,  Hodr, 
Heimdall,  Vithar,  Yali,  Ullr,  Ve,  Forseti.  Thus,  with  Odin, 
the  “All-father,”  whose  throne  rose  above  the  other  twelve, 
the  great  gods  of  the  Norse  Pantheon  were  thirteen  in  number. 

#  ODIN. 

(plate  XXXV.) 

The  physical  origin  of  the  idea  of  Odin  is  evident,  first, 
from  the  meaning  of  his  name,  and,  secondly,  from  the  various 
attributes  assigned  to  him.  The  word  Odin  is  simply  another 
form  of  Woden,  or  Wuotan,  which  Grimm  connects  with  the 
Latin  vadere.  He  is  thus  the  moving,  life-giving  breath  or  air 
of  heaven ;  and  as  such  corresponds  to  the  Hindoo  Brahmin 
=Atman  (German,  Athem),  or  ever-present  life  and  energy. 
His  Greek  correlative  is,  of  course,  Zeus,  who  is  likewise 
spoken  of  as  All-father.  The  name  Zeus  is  derived  from  a 
root  signifying  “to  shine,”  and  thus  the  King  of  the  Greek 
Asgard  was  originally  “the  glistening  ether.”  It  was  but 
natural  that  Odin,  as  the  personification  of  the  blue  sky, 
should  rule  the  rain-clouds  and  the  sunlight ;  hence  as  Odin 
the  rain-giver  he  corresponds  with  Zeus  Ombrios  (the  showery 
Zeus),  while  as  the  light-god  he  is  merely  a  Norse  Phoebos 
or  Apollo,  whose  spear — the  sun  rays — disperses  the  darkness. 
As  sky -god,  and  god  of  the  moving  air,  he  was,  no  less  natu- 


3M 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


rally  or  inevitably,  invoked  as  the  protector  of  sailors.  In 
this  respect  he  corresponds  or  is  interchangeable  with  Thor. 
But  this  interchange,  or  overlapping,  of  functions  is  as  distinc¬ 
tive  of  Norse  as  of  Greek  mythology.  Finally,  Zeus  and 
Odin  resemble  each  other  in  their  development  from  purely 
physical  into  spiritual  beings.  Odin,  the  ever-present  ether, 
becomes  the  ever-present  and  ever-knowing  spirit,  the  Father 
of  all.  And  as  Zeus  is  the  father  of  the  Muses,  so  Odin  is  the 
father  of  Saga,  the  goddess  of  poetry.  The  two  ravens  that 
sat  on  the  shoulders  of  Odin,  and  every  morning  brought  him 
news  of  what  was  passing  in  the  world,  were  called  Hunin 
and  Munin — Thought  and  Memory.  Memory,  or  Mnemosyn«, 
was  the  mother  of  the  Greek  Muses.  A  trace  of  the  worship 
of  Odin  survives  even  to  the  present  day.  In  one  of  the 
Orkney  islands  is  an  Odin  stone,  in  a  hollow  of  which  super¬ 
stitious  people  thrust  their  hands,  by  way  of  testifying  on  their 
most  solemn  oath.  The  island  of  Heligoland  is  said  to  have 
derived  its  name  from  Odin,  who  was  also  named  Helgi  ( der 
Heilige ),  or  the  Holy.  “Charles’s  Wain,”  as  we  now  call  it, 
was  named  Odin’s  Wain ;  and  the  “  Milky  Way”  was  also  known 
as  Odin’s  Way.  Unlike  Zeus — the  Greek  All-father — Odin 
was  also  a  god  of  war.  Hence  it  was  that,  as  already  ob¬ 
served,  he  received  into  Walhalla  one-half  of  the  heroes  slain 
in  battle. 

The  two  goddesses  Frigg  and  Freija ,  who  were  at  different 
times  believed  to  be  each  the  wife  of  Odin,  appear  to  be  the 
one  simply  a  development  of  the  other.  Of  all  the  goddesses, 
Frigg  was  the  best  and  dearest  to  Odin.  She  sat  enthroned 
beside  him,  and  surveyed  the  world.  She  knew  all,  and 
exercised  control  over  the  whole  face  of  nature.  In  Plate 
XXXVI.  she  is  represented  seated  with  the  golden  spindle  by 


XXXVI. 


XXXVIII 


THOR. 


3T5 


her  side,  with  which  she  used  to  spin.  She  is  attended  by 
her  handmaiden  Full  or  Fulla.  Freija  was  also  a  goddess 
who  presided  over  smiling  nature,  sending  sunshine,  rain,  and 
harvest.  She  was  further  a  goddess  into  whose  charge  the 
dead  passed.  As  has  been  said,  half  the  number  of  heroes 
who  fell  in  battle  belonged  to  her.  She  is  represented  in 
Plate  XXXVII.  driving  in  a  cart  drawn  by  two  cats. 

In  Plate  XXXV.  Odin  is  figured  seated  on  his  throne,  and 
attended  by  the  ravens,  Hunin  and  Munin,  and  the  two 
dogs. 

THOR, 

(plate  XXXVIII.,) 

Or  Donar,  simply  meant  the  Thunderer — der  Donnerer ;  and 
he  dwelt  in  the  vault  of  heaven.  As  he  was  likewise  said  to 
be  the  son  of  Odin,  or  of  Heaven,  it  is  evident  that,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  All-father,  he  had  a  purely  physical  origin. 
As  the  god  of  thunder  and  lightning  Thor  resembles  Zeus ; 
and  as  the  thunderbolts  of  Zeus  were  forged  by  the  smith-god 
Hephaestos,  who  dwelt  below  ground,  so  the  hammer  of  Odin 
was  smithied  by  the  Dwarves  ( zwerge ),  or  black  elves,  who 
dwelt  within  the  earth.  Thor  is  represented  driving  through 
the  clouds  in  a  caf  drawn  by  two  goats.  Among  the  pagan 
Norsemen,  Thor’s  hammer  was  held  in  as  much  reverence  as 
Christ’s  cross  among  Christians.  It  was  carved  on  their 
grave-stones  ;  and,  wrought  of  wood,  or  of  iron,  it  was  sus¬ 
pended  in  their  temples.  Thor,  under  the  symbol  of  the 
hammer,  was  invoked  as  the  deity  who  made  marriages  fruit¬ 
ful.  He  was  also  the  god  of  the  hearth  and  of  fire. 

As  a  sky-god  Thor  is  identical  with  Odin  much  in  the 


3l6 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


same  way  as  Vishnu  is  with  Indra.  While  the  other  Asa  folk 
ride  to  their  trysting-place,  Thor  goes  on  foot :  he  is  the 
striding  god,  as  Vishnu  is,  who  traverses  heaven  in  three 
steps.  Thor  is  perhaps  identical  with  the  Gallic  god  Taranis, 
whose  name  resembles  in  sound  the  Scottish  Celtic  word  for 
'  thunder.  Thor  has  also  been  identified  with  the  Slavonic 
god  Perkunes,  or  Perune,  whose  name,  according  to  a  well- 
known  law  of  phonetic  change,  is  thought  to  be  connected 
with  the  Greek  word  for  thunder — Keraunos. 

In  Plate  XXXVIII.  Thor  is  represented  driving  in  his  car 
drawn  by  two  goats,  with  his  hammer  raised  to  strike. 

BALDR 

Means  the  shining  god.  His  son  Brono  means  daylight,  in 
the  Anglo-Saxon  theogony.  His  home  is  called  Breidablick 
• — the  far  or  wide-shining ;  and  the  name  evidently  conveys 
an  idea  similar  to  that  suggested  by  such  Greek  words  as 
Euryphassa,  Eurynome,  and  Eurydike.  The  story  of  Baldr 
— the  most  lovely  and  pathetic  not  only  in  Norse  but  in  any 
mythology — leaves  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  its  physical  origin 
and  significance.  The  joy  of  the  world  in  the  presence  of 
Baldr  means  only  the  gladness  inspired  by  sunlight.  The 
solemn  oath  sworn  by  all  living  things  not  to  hurt  the  bright 
god,  and  their  speechless  dismay  at  his  death,  only  mean  the 
gloom  of  the  northern  climes  during  the  winter  months, 
when,  in  the  purely  concrete  language  of  the  primitive  race, 
Baldr,  or  the  sun,  was  dead. 

The  myth  says  that  only  the  mistletoe  had  not  sworn  not 
to  hurt  Baldr ;  that  Loki  discovered  the  fact,  and  then 
directed  Hodr — the  blind  god  of  the  winter  months — to 
shoot  him  with  a  twig  of  it.  This  mistletoe-bough  is  another 


* 


XXXIX. 


Freyr. 


FREYR. 


31  7 


form  of  the  thorn  with  which  Odin  puts  to  sleep  the  spring 
maiden  Brynhild ;  of  the  thorn  of  the  Persian  Isfeudyar ;  or 
of  the  boar’s  tusk  which  kills  the  bright,  spring-like  Adonis. 
Loki,  it  was  said,  fled  from  the  wrath  of  the  gods,  changed 
himself  into  a  salmon,  was  then  caught  by  them  in  a  net,  and 
bound  fast  until  the  twilight  of  the  gods — or,  in  Christian 
terminology,  until  the  judgment-day.  The  unlucky  Hodr 
was  killed  by  Odin’s  son,  Bali,  whose  home  was  among  the 
willows  and  in  the  dry  grass. 

FREYR, 

4 

(plate  XXXIX.,) 

Is  likewise  named  Fro.  The  functions  ascribed  to  him  are 
another  instance  of  that  interchange  or  overlapping  to  which 
we  have  referred  above,  and  which  seems  to  be  accounted  for 
by  the  hypothesis  that  whole  groups  of  mythical  beings  are  in 
reality  but  personified  epithets  of  one  and  the  same  thing. 
Thus  Freyr,  as  the  cause  of  fruitfulness,  is  merely  the  sun-lit 
and  air-breathing  heaven  as  represented  by  Odin.  Like  Odin 
he  is  the  patron  of  seafarers.  Not  only  is  Freyr  repeated,  so 
to  speak,  in  Odin,  but  also — or  if  not  the  god  himself,  then 
his  servant,  Skirnir — in  the  Yolsung  and  Niblung  heroes, 
Sigurd,  Sigmund,  and  Gunnar.  And  as  Sigurd  can  win  the 
maiden  Brynhild  only  by  riding  through  the  flaming  fire 
which  surrounded  and  guarded  her  dwelling,  so  by  the  same 
exploit  must  Skirnir  win  Gerda  for  the  master.  In  later  times, 
when  the  old  religion  had  given  way  before  Christianity,  and 
its  myths  were  being  explained  on  the  Euhemerist  method,  it 
was  alleged  that  Freyr  had  only  been  a  Swedish  king,  whose 
sorrowing  subjects  buried  his  body  in  a  magnificent  tomb,  to 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


318 


which,  for  three  whole  years,  they  continued  to  bring  their 
presents,  as  ifFreyr  were  alive. 

This  Euhemerism  is,  however,  inconsistent  with  the  most 
authoritative  source  of  all — the  Eddas.  In  Dasent’s  “Prose 
Edda  ”  Freyr  is  described  as  the  god  of  rain,  sunshine,  and 
fruits — as  Odin,  in  fact,  in  another  shape.  His  wife  was  Gredr, 
whose  beauty — as  he  saw  her  leaving  her  father’s  house,  and 
shedding  a  lustre  over  air  and  sea — captivated  the  god,  and 
allowed  him  no  rest  till  he  won  her. 

In  Plate  XXXIX.  Freyr  is  represented  riding  on  a  wild  boar 
through  the  air,  at  a  speed  greater  than  that  of  the  swiftest 
horse.  Sometimes  he  was  drawn  by  it  in  a  car.  In  crossing 
the  sea  he  also  used  a  boat. 


TYR 

Is  likewise  named  Ziu,  and  Saxnot.  Our  word  Tuesday  is  a 
memorial  of  his  name.  Once  more,  this  god  seems  to  be  an 
instance  of  personifying  an  epithet.  Ziu  is  identical  with  the 
root — meaning  “shine” — of  the  Sanscrit  Dynaus,  the  Greek 
Zeus,  and  the  Latin  Deus.  Tyr,  therefore,  is  another  glisten¬ 
ing  god.  He  is  pre-eminently  the  god  of  war  and  of  athletic 
sports.  “  On  him  it  is  good  for  wrestlers  to  call.”  Tyr  had 
only  one  hand,  the  other  having  been  bitten  off  by  the  wolf 
Fenris,  into  whose  mouth  the  god  had  placed  it  as  a  pledge 
of  security,  when  the  wolf  allowed  himself  to  be  bound  in  the 
net  that  shall  hold  him  fast  till  the  judgment-day, 

BRAGI 

Is  the  god  of  poetry  and  eloquence.  “  He  is  famous  for  wisdom, 


HEIMDALL. 


31 9 


and  best  in  tongue-wit  and  cunning  speech.”  A  sort  of  coun¬ 
terpart  of  this  god  was  his  wife  Iduna,  who  dwelt  in  the  under 
world.  She  is  spoken  of  in  terms  that  recall  the  Hindoo  de- 
scription  of  Ushas — Eos — or  the  Daure  goddess.  For  as 
Ushas — the  Dawn — makes  the  world  young  every  new  morn¬ 
ing,  so  Iduna  is  said  to  preserve  in  a  box  the  golden  apples 
which  the  gods  ate,  and  so  made  themselves  young  again. 

HEIMDALL 

Was  the  watchman  of  the  bridge  Bifrost,  leading  to  the  un¬ 
derworld.  The  sound  of  Heimdall’ s  horn  is  heard  over  the 
world,  and  shall  be  the  signal  for  the  great  battle  between  the 
gods  on  the  day  of  their  ending,  or  twilight.  The  name  of 
his  horse,  Gulltopr  (Goldropf,  or  golden  mare),  connects  him 
with  the  sun-gods  and  sun-horses  of  classical  ‘mythology. 
Heimdall  was  so  sharp  a  watchman  that  he  could  even  hear  the 
grass  grow  on  the  earth,  and  the  wool  on  the  backs  of  sheep ! 

Vithar  was  next  in  strength  to  Thor.  As  the  “twilight,” 
or  Gotterdammerung ,  Vithar  shall  destroy  the  wolf  Fenris, 
the  devourer  of  the  gods,  by  placing  one  foot  on  the  monster’s 
lower  jaw,  and  pushing  up  the  upper  one — thus  wrenching 
them  asunder.  Ulle  is  the  god  of  the  chase ;  a  skilful  bow¬ 
man,  and  a  fast  runner  on  stilts.  Like  Bragi  and  Iduna, 
Mimir  is  the  deity  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  He  dwelt 
by  the  ash-tree,  Yggdrasil,  beneath  whose  roots  bubbled  forth 
the  well  of  wisdom,  Mimir’s  well,  from  whose  waters  Mimir 
drank  his  daily  draught. 

Loki  dwelt  in  the  land  of  the  dead.  He  was  the  son  of 
the  giant  Farbanti,  whose  duty  it  was  to  ferry  the  dead  over 
the  waters  of  the  lower  world.  Loki  had  three  children  as 


32° 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


cruel  and  hateful  as  he  himself  was  full  of  mischief.  One  was 
the  huge  wolf  Fenris  (Plate  XL.),  who,  at  the  last  day, 
shall  hurry  gaping  to  the  scene  of  battle,  with  his  lower  jaw 
scraping  the  earth  and  his  nose  scraping  the  sky !  The  second 
was  the  serpent  of  Midgard — the  serpent  which  Odin  threw 
into  the  sea,  where  the  monster  grew  to  such  length  that  it 
embraced  the  whole  world  in  its  folds.  The  third  was  the 
goddess  Hel,  who  was  half  black  and  half  blue,  and  lived 
daintily  on  the  brains  and  marrow  of  men. 

Hel  is,  in  fact,  that  dreadful  Hindoo  goddess  Kali,  who, 
in  these  modem  days,  has  degenerated  into  a  Doorga  of  quite 
a  pathetic  and  interesting  character.  Loki  was  at  the  bottom 
of  all  the  mischief  that  ever  happened  in  the  society  of  the 
gods.  The  character  of  this  god,  and  his  close  relationship 
with  a  personage  who  figures  conspicuously  in  modern  the¬ 
ology,  are  pretty  well  indicated  in  the  following  adage,  with 
its  equivalents  in  German  and  English :  Loki  er  or  bondum 
• — der  Teufel  ist  frei  gelassen — the  devil  is  loose. 

Of  the  almost  countless  beings  who  figure  in  Norse  my¬ 
thology  we  must  say  but  very  little.  Like  the  great  gods, 
they  appear  to  be  representative  of  the  good  and  evil  powers 
of  nature.  Among  them  are  the  Elves  (Alfen,  Elfen,)  who 
live  in  Alfheimr  (Elf-home).  Their  king  is  the  Erlkonig 
(Elfen  Konig).  In  the  night  hours  they  come  in  troops  to 
dance  in  the  grass,  leaving,  according  to  popular  belief,  their 
traces  in  the  form  of  fairy-rings.  The  dwarves  (Zwerge), 
wdiose  father  is  named  Ivaldr,  dwell  in  the  heart  of  the  hills. 
To  them  belong  precious  stones  and  metals,  on  which  they 
prove  their  skill  in  workmanship.  As  guardians  of  hidden 
treasures  they  were  propitiated  by  the  seekers  of  the  same 
with  a  black  goat  or  a  black  cock.  An  echo  is  called  by  the 


XL. 


The  Wolf  Fenris. 


i 


* 


| .  mmu 


■  ■ 


'  ■ 


THE  TALE  OF  THE  VOLSUNGS  AND  NIBLUNGS 


321 


Icelanders  Dwergmaal-Zwergsprache — or  dwarf-voice.  The 
evil  beings  who  stole  the  light  every  evening,  and  the  summer 
every  year,  were  called  giants.  Such  were  the  Reifriesen 
(Hrimthursen)  who  brought  the  winter.  The  giant  Hrungnir 
had  a  head  of  stone,  and  a  heart  of  stone ;  and  a  giantess, 
mother  of  Gmir,  as  many  as  nine  hundred  heads.  Another 
giant  was  Thiassi,  who  slew  Thor  and  cast  his  eyes  up  to 
heaven,  where  they  shone  thereafter  as  stars.  In  the  extreme 
north  dwelt  the  giant  Hresvelgr,  the  motion  of  whose  wings 
caused  wind  and  tempest,  in  which  respect  he  resembles  the 
gigantic  bird  of  the  Buddhist  play,  Nagananda ,  who  raises 
the  waves  on  the  sea  by  the  flapping  of  his  wings.  On  the 
extreme  south  was  Surtr,  whose  flaming  sword  guarded  the 
bounds  of  Muspelheim.  Besides  these  there  were  the  Troll- 
weiber  (troll  arvis),  phantoms  from  the  land  of  the  dead,  who 
in  the  dark  nights  rode  to  the  earth  on  a  wolf  bridled  with 
snakes.  The  three  Nornen  were  the  Norse  Fates.  The  Valky- 
rien  were  fair  maidens  who  hovered  over  the  field  of  battle, 
woke  up  the  dead  heroes  with  a  kiss,  and  led  away  their  souls 
to  fight  and  drink  ale  as  of  old  in  the  happy  Valhalla. 

THE  TALE  OF  THE  VOLSUNGS  AND  NIBLUNGS. 

The  Volsunga  Saga  and  Nibelungenlied  hardly  differ  in  any¬ 
thing  but  the  name.  The  one  is  merely  the  Norse,  the  other 
the  German,  form  of  one  and  the  same  nature  myth,  or  epic. 
According  to  the  “Solar  myth”  theorists,  this  epic  serves  . 
the  common  purpose  of  all  Aryan  nations;  in  India  being 
known  under  the  names  of  Ramayana  and  Mahabharata;  in 
Greece  as  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey ;  in  our  more  northern 

lands  as  the  Tale  of  the  Volsungs,  and  the  Nibelungen  Lay; 

21 


322 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


and  in  England  as  the  tale  of  King  Arthur  and  his  Knights 
of  the  Round  Table.  Whatever  objections  may  be  urged 
against  the  “  Solar  myths”  explanation  of  these  stories,  it  is 
quite  indisputable  that  the  main  incidents  in  all  of  them  com¬ 
pletely  coincide.  Indeed  it  is  not  too  much  to  affirm  that 
fully  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  any  one  of  these  great  epics 
of  the  world,  the  student  must  possess  some  acquaintance  with 
its  co-ordinate  ones.  But  not  only  do  the  main  incidents  in 
the  Northern  Epics  coincide  with  those  in  the  Iliad  and 
Odyssey,  but  they  even  contain  episodes  which  correspond  in 
everything  except  the  name  with  plots  in  Greek  tragedy. 
Gudrun,  for  example,  is  only  a  Norse  Medea.  We  now  pro¬ 
ceed  to  give  a  slight  sketch  of  the  Volsunga  Saga. 

Volsung  was  the  son  of  Rerir,  the  son  of  the  Sigi,  the  son 
of  Odin.  Volsung  lay  for  seven  years  in  his  mother’s  womb; 
and  they  said  the  youngling  kissed  his  mother  or  ever  she 
died.  Volsung  had  a  daughter  called  Signy,  who  was  married 
to  Siggeir,  King  of  Gothland.  During  the  marriage  festivities 
in  Volsung’s  house,  and  as  the  good  folk  sat  round  the  evening 
fire,  there  entered  an  old  man  wrapped  in  a  cloak,  who  drove 
a  sword  into  a  log  of  wood  right  up  to  the  hilt,  predicted 
great  things  of  the  hero  who  should  be  able  to  draw  it  out 
again,  and  immediately  disappeared.  The  old  man  was  Odin ; 
and  the  sword  was  the  sword  of  Gram,  which  has  its  counter¬ 
part  in  the  sword  of  Chrysaor,  in  Roland’s  Durandal,  and  in 
King  Arthur’s  Excalibur.  And  as  only  Theseus  could  lift  the 
huge  stone,  and  none  but  Ulysses  could  draw  his  own  bow,  so 
among  the  assembled  heroes  only  Sigmund  the  son  of  Volsung 
could  pull  out  Gram. 

Volsung  was  afterwards  murdered  in  the  land  of  Siggeir; 
wherefore  Sigmund  avenged  the  death  of  his  father  by  killing 


THE  TALE  OF  THE  VOLSUNGS  AND  NIBLUNGS. 


323 


# 

_ 

the  children  of  his  brother-in-law,  Siggeir.  After  that  he 
returned  to  his  own  land,  and  married  Borghild,  by  whom  he 
had  two  children,  Helgi  and  Hamund.  But  Sigmund  was  no 
more  constant  in  his  loves  than  other  heroes  of  whom  we  read 
in  classical  literature.  He  fell  in  love  with  Hjordis,  who  was 
beloved  by  the  son  of  King  Hunding.  Between  the  two 
heroes  there  ensued  a  fight,  during  which  the  one-eyed  man 
in  a  blue  cloak,  and  a  bill  in  his  hand,  appeared :  whereupon 
Sigmund  was  slain.  The  dying  Sigmund  comforted  his  wife 
Hjordis,  and  entrusted  to  her  charge  his  sword  Gram,  wishing 
her  to  preserve  it  for  their  unborn  boy.  “And  now,”  said 
he,  “  I  grow  weary  with  my  wounds,  and  I  will  go  to  see  our 
kin  that  have  gone  before  me.”  So  Hjordis  sat  over  him  till 
he  died  at  the  day  dawning. 

Hjordis  after  that  married  Hialprek,  King  of  Denmark,  a 
character  who  corresponds  to  the  Grecian  Laios  and  Akrisios. 
At  Hialprek’ s  court  was  born  Sigurd,  the  son  of  Hjordis  and 
Sigmund — the  favourite  hero  of  Norse  mythology.  Sigurd  was 
taught  in  all  the  arts  and  sciences  by  Regin,  the  cunning  black¬ 
smith,  who  was  also  the  brother  of  the  otter  killed  by  Odin, 
and  the  serpent — or  worm — Fafnir,  who  guarded  those  golden 
treasures  which,  according  to  the  Solar  theory,  mean  the  glad¬ 
dening  and  revivifying  sunlight,  Fafnir  himself  being  th^  evil 
power,  the  cloud,  or  the  darkness  which  steals  the  light. 
Regin  wished  to  secure  the  treasure  for  himself,  and  forged  a 
sword  for  Sigurd  to  slay  the  worm  with.  But  it  shivered  into 
pieces  on  its  very  first  trial;  and  Sigurd,  in  contempt  at 
Regin’s -smithing,  procures  the  fragments  of  his  paternal  sword 
Gram,  and  Regin  welds  them  together.  Gram  stood  every 
test.  Sigurd  drove  it,  right  to  the  hilt,  into  Regin’s  anvil; 
and  after  that,  a  lock  of  wool,  borne  on  the  surface  of  the 


324 


NORSE  AND  OLD  GERMAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


stream,  divided  into  two  against  the  motionless  edge.  Sigurd 
slew  Fafnir,  and  procured  the  treasure  ;  and  next  he  slew 
Regin,  who  wished  to  possess'  the  whole  of  the  prize  on  the 
plea  that  his  forging  of  the  weapon  had  really  won  the  victory. 
After  that  Sigurd  went  to  free  the  Valkyrie  Brynhild,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Solar  myth  the  Maiden  of  Spring,  for  whom  the 
cold  earth  is  longing.  Brynhild  lay  in  the  sleep  into  which 
she  had  been  thrown  by  the  thorn  of  Odin — that  is,  by  the 
thorn,  or  cold,  or  frost  of  winter. 

Sigurd,  like  his  mythical  relatives  in  Norse  and  Greek  stories, 
was  unfaithful  in  his  loves.  He  fell  in  love  with  Gudrun,  the 
sister  of  Gunnar,  and  that,  too,  in  spite  of  those  love  scenes 
and  speeches  of  his  with  Brynhild,  for  the  beauty  of  which  the 
Volsung  Saga  is  perhaps  unequalled  by  any  other  epic  story 
whatever.  Brynhild  had  sworn  to  marry  only  the  man  who 
could  ride  through  the  fire  which  surrounded  her  dwelling. 
This  Gunnar  could  not  do ;  but  Sigurd  did  it  in  Gunnar’s 
shape,  whereafter  Brynhild  agreed  to  marry  Gunnar.  But 
Gudrun,  in  her  triumph,  revealed  the  secret ;  and  just  as 
(Enone  procured  the  death  of  the  unfaithful  Paris,  and  Deia- 
neira  that  of  the  fickle  Herakles,  so  Brynhild  compassed  the 
death  of  Sigurd.  Brynhild  also,  like  another  Deianeira,  dies, 
in  grief,  on  the  funeral  pile  of  her  husband.  Next,  Gudrun, 
also  grieving  for  Sigurd,  leaves  her  home  ;  but  she  marries 
Atli,  King  of  Hunland.  It  would  seem  that  this  Atli  must  be 
another  name  for  the  powers  of  darkness,  for  he  invited  his 
wife’s  brothers  to  his  court,  in  order  that  he  might  seize  the 
golden  treasure,  “the  sunlight,”  which  they  had  received 
from  the  dead  Sigurd.  These  treasures  the  brothers  buried  in 
the  Rhine  river,  and  went  on  their  way  to  Hunland,  though 
they  well  knew  they  were  destined  never  to  return.  The 


THE  TALE  OF  THE  VOLSUNGS  AND  NIBLUNGS.  325 


scene  in  which  the  brothers  are  slain  by  the  treacherous  Atli 
is  unsurpassed  for  power  and  terror  by  any  fighting  story,  ex¬ 
cept,  perhaps,  by  that  one  in  the  Mahabharata  which  describes 
the  final  struggle  on  the  battle-field  of  Hastinapur.  Next 
follows  Gudrun’s  revenge  for  the  death  of  her  brothers;  like, 
as  we  have  already  said,  a  Norse  Medea,  she  slew  her  own  ^.nd 
Atli’s  children. 

But  we  cannot  further  pursue  those  final  tragedies  in  which 
all  the  various  kinsfolk  die  by  each  other’s  hands,  and  in 
obedience  to  that  stern,  inevitable  fate  which  in  these  tales 
seems  to  be  personified  in  Odin,  and  looms  so  terribly  in  the 
background  of  the  dramas  of  Sophocles  and  ^schylus. 

We  would  in  conclusion  recommend  the  student  to  read  the 
translation  of  the  Volsung  Saga,  recently  published  by  Messrs. 
Morris  and  Magnusson,  as  also  Dr.  Dasent’s  translation  of  the 
prose  Edda.  Those  who  know  German  may  also  consult 
Wilhelm  Mannhardt’s  Die  Gotter  der  deutschen  und  ?iordischen 
Yolker ,  published  in  Berlin,  i860.  For  an  exhaustive  expo¬ 
sition  of  the  “  Solar  myth”  theory,  alike  of  the  subjects  em¬ 
braced  in  the  foregoing  sketch,  and  of  Aryan  myths  in  general, 
we  recommend  the  student  to  the  work  of  the  Rev.  George 
W.  Cox  on  “The  Mythology  of  the  Aryan  Nations.” 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF 

THE  HINDOOS. 


IN  the  Veda,  the  earliest  record  of  the  Sanscrit  language, 

many  of  the  myths  common  to  the  Aryan  nations  are 

presented  in  their  simplest  form.  Hence  the  special  value  of 

Hindoo  myths  in  a  study  of  Comparative  Mythology.  But  it 

would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  myths  of  the  Greeks, 

Latins,  Slavonians,  Norsemen,  old  Germans,  and  Celts  were 

derived  from  those  of  the  Hindoos.  For  the  myths,  like  the 

languages,  of  all  these  various  races,  the  Hindoos  included, 

are  derived  from  one  common  source.  Greek,  Latin,  Sanscrit, 

etc.,  are  but  modifications  of  a  primitive  Aryan  language  that 

was  spoken  by  the  early  “Aryans"  before  they  branched 

away  from  their  original  home,  wherever  that  may  have  been, 

to  form  new  nationalities  in  India,  Greece,  Northern  Europe, 

Central  Europe,  etc.  The  Sanscrit  language  is  thus  not  the 

mother,  but  the  elder  sister  of  Greek  and  the  kindred  tongues : 

and  the  Vedic  mythology  isr  in  like  manner,  only  the  elder 

sister  of  the  other  Aryan  mythologies.  It  is  by  reason  of  the 

discovery  of  the  common  origin  of  these  languages  that 

scholars  have  been  enabled  to  treat  mythology  scientifically. 

For  example,  many  names  unintelligible  in  Greek  are  at  once 

explained  by  the  meaning  of  their  Sanscrit  equivalents. 

Thus,  the  name  of  the  chief  Greek  god,  Zeus,  conveys  no 

meaning  in  itself.  But  the  Greek  sky-god  Zeus  evidently 
326 


MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS.  327 

corresponds  to  the  Hindoo  sky-god  Dyaus,  and  this  word  is 
derived  from  a  root  div  or  dyu,  meaning  “to  shine.”  Zeus, 
then,  meant  originally  “  the  glistening  ether;”  and  the  Sanscrit 
devas,  Greek  theos,  and  Latin  deus,  meaning  “god,”  are 
from  the  same  root,  and  signify  “shining”  or  “heavenly.” 
Similarly  other  Greeek  names  are  explained  by  their  counter- 

V 

parts,  or  cognate  works  in  Sanscrit.  Thus  the  name  of  Zeus’s 
wife,  Hera,  belongs  to  a  Sanscrit  root  svar,  and  originally 
meant  the  bright  sky,  the  goddess  herself  being  primarily  the 
bright  air;  and  Erins  is  explained  by  the  Sanscrit  Saranyu. 
In  India  there  have  been  two  dynasties,  as  it  were,  of  gods — 
the  Vedic  and  Brahmanic.  The  Vedic  gods  belong  to  the  very 
earliest  times,  appear  obviously  as  elemental  powers,  and  are 
such  as  would  have  been  worshipped  by  a  simple,  uninstructed, 
agricultural  people. ^?Fhe  Brahmanic  religion  was,  in  great 
part  at  least,  a  refined  development  of  the  former;  and  was 
gradually  displacing  the  simpler  worship  of  Yedism  many 
centuries  before  the  birth  of  Christ.V'  Five  or  six  centuries 
before  the  last  event,  Dissent,  under  the  name  and  form  of 
Buddhism,  became  the  chief  religion  of  India;  but  in  about 
ten  centuries  Brahmanism  recovered  its  old  position.  Budd¬ 
hism  now  retains  but  comparatively  few  followers  in  India. 
Its  chief  holds  are  in  Burmah,  Siam,  Japan,  Thibet,  Nepaul, 
China,  and  Mongolia :  and  its  nominal  followers  at  the  pre¬ 
sent  day,  perhaps  outnumber  those  of  all  other  religions  put 
together. 


328 


MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


THE  VEDIC  GODS. 

DYAUS 

Was,  as  we  have  already  indicated,  the  god  of  the  bright  sky, 
his  name  being  connected  with  that  of  Zeus  through  the  root 
div  or  dyu.  That  the  god-name  and  the  sky-name  were  inter¬ 
changeable  is  evident  from  such  classical  expressions  as  that 
“Zeus  rains”  (/.  e.,  the  sky  rains).  In  such  expressions  there 
is  hardly  any  mythological  suggestion :  and  the  meaning  of 
the  name  Dyaus, — like  those  of  the  names  Ouranos  and  Kronos 
in  Greek, — always  remained  too  transparent  for  it  to  become 
the  nucleus  of  a  myth.  Dyaus,  however,  was  occasionally 
spoken  of  as  an  overruling  spirit.  The  epithet,  Dyaus  pitar, 
is  simply  Zeus  pater — Zeus  the  father ;  or,  as  it  is  spelled  in 
Latin,  Jupiter.  Another  of  his  names,  Janitar ,  is  the  San¬ 
scrit  for  genetor,  a  title  of  Zeus  as  the  father  or  producer. 
Dyaus  pitar ,  ‘  ‘  father  sky,  ’  ’  and  prithus  matar ,  ‘  ‘  mother  earth,  ’  * 
are  generally  spoken  of  together. 

VARUNA 

Is  also  a  sky-god :  but  in  later  times  he  becomes  god  of  the 
waters.  The  name  is  derived  from  the  root  var,  to  cover,  or 
envelop:  and  so  far  Varuna  (accent  Varuna)  means  the  vault 
of  heaven.  Here,  then,  we  seem  to  find  a  clue  to  the  meaning 
of  the  Greek  Ouranos,  whom  we  already  know  to  have  been  a 
sky-god  ;  Ouranos  means  the  coverer ;  but,  as  observed  above, 
the  name  would  have  remained  unintelligible  apart  from  its 
reference  to  the  Sanscrit  name.  The  myth  of  Varuna  is  a 
wonderful  instance  of  the  readiness  and  completeness  with 


THE  VEDIC  GODS. 


329 


which  the  Hindoo  genius  spiritualized  its  sense-impressions. 
From  the  conception  of  the  thousand-eyed  (or  starred)  Varuna, 
who  overlooked  all  men  and  things,  the  Indian  Aryans  passed 
to  the  loftier  conception  of  Varuna  as  an  all-seeing  god  or 
providence,  whose  spies,  or  angels,  saw  all  that  took  place. 
Some  of  the  finest  passages  in  the  Vedic  hymns  are  those  in 
which  the  all-seeing  Varuna  is  addressed  :  as  in  the  following 
verses,  translated  by  Muller  from  the  Rigveda: — 

“Let  me  not  yet,  O  Varuna,  enter  into  the  house  of  clay;  have  mercy, 
Almighty,  have  mercy! 

“If  I  go  along  trembling  like  a  cloud  driven  by  the  wind;  have  mercy, 
Almighty,  have  mercy ! 

“  Through  want  of  strength,  though  strong  and  bright  god,  have  I  gone  to 
the  wrong  shore;  have  mercy,  Almighty,  have  mercy  ! 

“  Thirst  came  upon  the  worshipper,  tho’  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  waters ; 
have  mercy,  Almighty,  have  mercy  ! 

“  Whenever  we  men,  O  Varuna,  committed  offence  before  the  heavenly  host, 
whenever  we  break  thy  law  through  thoughtfulness ;  have  mercy,  Almighty, 
have  mercy ! " 

\ 


INDRA. 

(plate  xli.) 

The  connection,  or  identity,  between  Zeus  and  Dyaus  seems 
to  be  chiefly  limited  to  the  names.  There  is  greater  resem¬ 
blance  between  Indra  and  Zeus  than  between  Zeus  and  Dyaus. 
Indra,  as  the  hurler  of  the  thunderbolts,  and  as  a  “  cloud 
compeller,”  cqincides  with  Zeus  and  Thor. 

The  myth  of  Indra — the  favourite  Vedic  god — is  a  further 
instance  of  that  transition  from  the  physical  to  spiritual  mean¬ 
ing  to  which  we  have  referred ;  though  Indra  is  by  no  means 
so  spiritual  a  being  as  Varuna.  It  is  also  a  good  instance  of 
the  fact  that,  as  the  comparative  mythologists  express  it,  the 


330  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


further  back  the  myths  are  traced  the  more  li  atmospheric  n  do 
the  gods  become.  First,  of  the  merely  physical  Indra.  Indra 
shatters  the  cloud  with  his  bolt,  and  releases  the  imprisoned 
waters.  His  purely  physical  origin  is  further  indicated  by  the 
mythical  expression  that  the  clouds  moved  in  Indra  as  the 
winds  in  Dyaus — an  expression  implying  that  Indra  was  a 
name  for  the  sky.  Also,  the  stories  told  of  him  correspond 
closely  with  some  in  classical  mythology.  Like  Hermes  and 
Herakles,  he  is  endowed  with  precocious  strength  ;  like  Her¬ 
mes  he  goes  in  search  of  the  cattle,  the  clouds  which  the  evil 
powers  have  driven  away;  and  like  Hermes  he  is  assisted  by 
the  breezes — though  in  the  Hindoo  myth  by  the  storm-winds, 
rather — the  Maruts.  His  beard  of  lightning  is  the  red  beard 
of  Thor.  In  a  land  with  the  climatic  conditions  of  India,  and 
among  an  agricultural  people,  it  was  but  natural  that  the  god 
whose  fertilizing  showers  brought  the  corn  and  wine  to  matu¬ 
rity  should  be  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  all. 

“  He  who  as  soon  as  born  is  the  first  of  the  deities,  who  has  done  honour  to 
the  gods  by  his  exploits ;  he  at  whose  might  heaven  and  earth  are  alarmed, 
and  who  is  known  by  the  greatness  of  his  strength  ;  he,  men,  is  Indra. 

“  He  who  fixed  firm  the  moving  earth;  who  tranquillized  the  incensed 
mountains ;  who  spread  the  spacious  firmament ;  wrho  consolidated  the 
heavens  ;  he,  men,  is  Indra. 

“  He  who,  having  destroyed  Ahi,  set  free  the  seven  rivers :  who  recovered 
the  cows  detained  by  Bal ;  who  generated  fire  in  the  clouds ;  who  is  invinci¬ 
ble  in  battle :  he,  men,  is  Indra. 

“  He  under  whose  control  are  horses  and  cattle,  and  villages,  and  all 
chariots  ;  who  gave  birth  to  the  sun  and  to  the  dawn  ;  and  who  is  the  leader 
of  the  waters  :  he,  men,  is  Indra. 

“  He  to  whom  heaven  and  earth  bow  down  ;  he  at  whose  might  the  moun¬ 
tains  are  appalled  ;  he  who  is  the  drinker  of  the  Soma  juice,  the  firm  of  frame, 
the  adamant-armed,  the  wielder  of  the  thunderbolt:  he  men,  is  Indra. 

“  May  we  envelop  thee  with  acceptable  praises  as  husbands  are  embraced 
by  their  wives  t" 


THE  VEDIC  GODS. 


331 


The  first  verse  in  the  preceding  hymn  from  the  Rigveda 
perhaps  refers  to  Indra  as  a  sun-god,  and  to  the  rapidity  with 
which,  in  tropical  climates,  the  newly-born  sun  grows  in 
heat-giving  powers.  The  Ahi,  or  throttling  snake,  of  the 
third  verse,  is  the  same  as  the  Greek  Echidna,  or  the  Hindoo 
Vritra;  and  is  multiplied  in  the  Rakshasas — or  powers  of 
darkness — against  which  the  sky-god  Indra  wages  deadly  war. 
He  is  likewise  spoken  of  in  the  same  hymn  in  much  the  same 
kind  of  language  that  would  naturally  be  applied  to  the 
creator  and  sustainer  of  the  world.  But  so  is  almost  every 
Hindoo  deity.  Absolute  supremacy  was  attributed  to  each 
and  every  god,  whenever  it  came  to  his  turn  to  be  praised  or 
propitiated. 

SURYA 

Corresponds  to  the  Greek  Helios.  That  is,  he  was  not  so 
much  the  god  of  light  as  the  special  god  who  dwelt  in  the 
body  of  the  sun.  The  same  distinction  exists  between  Posei¬ 
don  and  Nereus ;  the  one  being  the  god  of  all  waters,  and 
even  a  visitor  at  Olympos,  the  other  a  dweller  in  the  sea. 
Surya  is  described  as  the  husband  of  the  dawn,  and  also  as  her 
son. 

SAYITAR 

Is  another  personification  of  the  sun.  His  name  means  the 
“Inciter  or  enlivener,”  and  is  derived  from  the  root  su,  to 
drive  or  stimulate.  As  the  sun-god  he  is  spoken  of  as  the 
golden-eyed,  golden-tongued,  and  golden-handed  ;  and  the 
Hindoo  commentators,  in  their  absurd  attempts  to  give  a 
literal  prosaic  explanation  of  a  highly  appropriate  poetic 
epithet,  say  that  Savitar  cut  off  his  hand  at  a  sacrifice,  and 
that  the  priests  gave  him  a  golden  one  instead.  Savitar  thus 


332 


MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


corresponds  to  the  Teutonic  god  Tyr,  whose  hand  was  cut 
off  by  the  wolf  Fenris.  Like  other  gods  in  the  Hindoo  and 
Norse  mythologies,  Savitar  is  regarded  as  all-powerful.  That 
Savitar  is  a  sun -god  appears  from  the  following  passages, 
among  many  others,  from  the  Rigveda : — 

“  Shining  forth  he  rises  from  the  lap  of  the  dawn,  praised  by  singers  ;  he, 
he,  my  god  Savitar,  stepped  forth,  who  never  misses  the  same  place. 

“  He  steps  forth,  the  splendour  of  the  sky,  the  wide-seeing,  the  far-shining, 
the  shining  wanderer ;  surely  enlivened  by  the  sun  do  men  go  to  their  tasks, 
and  do  their  work. 

“  May  the  golden-eyed  Savitar  arise  hither  ! 

“  May  the  golden-handed,  life-bestowing,  well  guarding,  exhilarating,  and 
affluent  Savitar  be  present  at  the  sacrifice !” 

The  second  passage  seems  to  identify  Savitar  with  Odin, 
who  was  also  “  the  wanderer” — Wegtom,  and  who  was  one- 
eyed,  as  Savitar  was  one-handed. 

SOMA. 

In  some  respects  the  myth  of  Soma  is  the  most  curious  of 
all.  Soma,  as  the  intoxicating  juice  of  the  Soma  plant,  cor¬ 
responds  to  that  mixture  of  honey  and  blood  of  the  Quoasir, 
which,  in  the  Norse  mythology,  imparts  prolonged  life  to  the 
gods.  In  the  Rigveda  the  Soma  is  similarly  described ;  as 
also  the  process  by  which  it  is  converted  into  intoxicating 
liquid.  But  in  the  same  hymns  Soma  is  also  described  as  an 

all-powerful  god.  It  is  he  who  gives  strength  to  Indra,  and 

* 

enables  him  to  conquer  his  enemy  Vritra,  the  snake  of  dark¬ 
ness.  He  is  further,  like  Vishnu,  Indra,  and  Varuna,  the 
supporter  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  of  gods  and  men ;  thus  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  myth  of  the  god  Soma  is  but  an  instance 
of  that  fetishistic  stage  in  the  history  of  the  human  kind 
during  which  men  attributed  conscious  life  and  energy  to 


THE  VEDIC  GODS. 


333 


whatever  hurt  or  benefited  them.  The  following  passages  from 
the  Rigveda  are  adduced  to  show  in  what  terms  Soma  was 
spoken  of  as  a  god,  and  as  a  mere  plant: — 

"  Where  there  is  eternal  light,  in  the  world  where  the  sun  is  placed,  in  that 
immortal,  imperishable  world,  place  me,  O  Soma  .  .  . 

"  Where  life  is  free,  in  the  third  heaven  of  heavens,  where  the  worlds  are 

radiant,  there  make  me  immortal.” 

* 

And  again, — 

“  In  the  filter,  which  is  the  support  of  the  world,  thou,  pure  Soma,  art  puri¬ 
fied  for  the  gods.  The  Usijas  first  gathered  thee.  In  thee  all  these  worlds  are 
contained. 

“The  Soma  flowed  into  the  vessel  for  Indra,  for  Vishnu;  may  it  be 
honeyed  for  Vayu!” 

AGNI 

Is  the  god  of  fire,  his  name  evidently  being  connected  with 
the  Latin  ignis.  He  corresponds  to  the  Greek  Hephsestos. 
Of  this  god  Mr.  Wheeler,  in  his  introduction  to  his  History 
of  India,  thus  writes:  “To  man  in  a  primitive  state  of  ex¬ 
istence  the  presence  of  fire  excites  feelings  of  reverence.  Its 
powers  raise  it  to  the  rank  of  a  deity  whose  operations  are  felt 
and  seen.  It  burns  and  it  consumes.  It  dispels  the  darkness,* 
and  with  it  drives  away,  not  only  the  imaginary  horrors  which 
the  mind  associates  with  darkness,  but  also  the  real  horrors — 
such  as  beasts  of  prey.  ...  It  becomes  identified  with  the 
light  of  the  sun  and  moon ;  with  the  lightning  which  shoots 
from  the  sky  and  shatters  the  loftiest  trees  and  strikes  down 
the  strong  man ;  with  the  deity  who  covers  the  field  with 
grain  and  ripens  the  harvest ;  with  the  divine  messenger  who 
licks  up  the  sacrifice  and  carries  it  to  the  gods.” 

As  another  curious  instance  of  the  sort  of  fetishism  to  which 
we  have  referred,  the  Veda  describes  Agni  as  being  gene- 


334  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


rated  from  the  rubbing  of  sticks,  after  which  he  bursts  forth 
from  the  wood  like  a  fleet  courser.  Again,  when  excited  by  the 
wind  he  rushes  amongst  the  trees  like  a  bull,  and  consumes 
the  forest  as  a  raja  destroys  his  ‘enemies.  Such  expressions 
of  course  prove  the  purely  physical  origin  of  the  god  Agni ; 
and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that,  like  Indra,  Varuna, 
Soma,  Vishnu,  etc.,  he  is  an  all-powerful  god,  and  supporter 
of  the  universe. 


VAYU 

Is  the  god  of  the  winds,  or  of  the  air.  Allied  to  him  are  the 
Maruts, — the  storm -gods,  or  “crushers,”  whose  name  has 
been  derived  from  a  root  meaning  to  grind,  and  regarded  as 
connected  with  such  names  as  Mars  and  Ares.  The  same 
root  appears  in  Miolnir,  an  epithet  of  Thor,  conceived  as  the 
crashing  or  crushing  god.  The  Maruts  are  the  Hindoo  coun¬ 
terparts  of  the  Norse  Ogres — the  fierce  storm-beings  who  toss 
the  sea  into  foam,  and  who,  in  the  Norse  Tales,  are  repre¬ 
sented  as  being  armed  with  iron  clubs,  at  every  stroke  of 
which  they  send  the  earth  flying  so  many  yards  into  the  air. 
The  primary  meaning  of  the  name  is  clear  from  the  Vedic 
passages  which  describe  the  Maruts  as  roaring  among  the 
forest  trees,  and  tearing  up  the  clouds  for  rain. 

Among  all  the  personifications  of  Hindoo  mythology,  one 
of  the  purest  and  most  touching  and  beautiful  is 

USHAS, 

Whose  name  is  the  same  as  the  Greek  Eos — or  the  Dawn.  The 
name  Ushas  is  derived  from  a  root  us,  to  burn.  The  language 
in  which  the  physical  Ushas  was  spoken  of  was  especially 


THE  VEDIC  GODS. 


335 


capable  of  easy  transformation  into  a  purely  spiritual  meaning. 
The  dawn-light  is  beautiful  to  all  men,  barbarous  or  civilized; 
and  it  did  not  require  any  great  stretch  of  poetic  fancy  to 
represent  Ushas  as  a  young  wife  awakening  her  children,  and 
giving  them  new  strength  for  the  toils  of  the  new  day.  It 
happens  that  the  word  which  in  Sanscrit  means  “  to 
awake,”  also  means  “to  know;”  and  thus,  like  the  Greek 
Athene,  Ushas  became  a  goddess  of  wisdom.  The  following 
passages  show  how  Ushas  was  regarded  by  the  Vedic  wor¬ 
shippers  : — 

“Ushas,  daughter  of  heaven,  dawn  upon  us  with  riches;  diffuser  of  light, 
dawn  upon  us  .with  abundant  food ;  beautiful  goddess,  dawn  upon  us  with 
wealth  of  cattle. 

“This  auspicious  Ushas  has  harnessed  her  vehicles  from  afar,  above  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  and  she  comes  gloriously  upon  men  with  a  hundred  chariots. 

“  First  of  all  the  world  is  she  awake,  trampling  over  transitory  darkness ;  the 
mighty,  the  giver  of  light,  from  on  high  she  beholds  all  things;  ever  youthful, 
ever  reviving,  she  comes  first  to  the  invocation.” 

•  *  ‘  ■ 

Had  we  space  for  discussion  of  so  interesting  a  subject,  it 
would  be  easy  to  show  how  naturally  monotheistic  conception 
would  grow  out  of  the  polytheism  of  the  Vedic  religion. 
Meantime  we  content  ourselves  with  the  following  monotheis¬ 
tic  hymn,  translated  by  Dr.  Max  Muller 

“  In  the  beginning  there  rose  the  source  of  golden  light.  He  was  the  only 
lord  of  all  that  is ;  he  established  this  earth  and  this  sky :  who  is  the  god  to 
whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice? 

“  He  who  gives  life,  he  who  gives  strength;  whose  blessings  all  the  bright 
gods  desire ;  whose  shadow  is  immortality ;  whose  shadow  is  death ;  who  is 
the  god  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

“He  who  through  his  power  is  the  only  king  of  all  the  breathing  and  awak¬ 
ening  world.  He  who  governs  all,  men  and  beasts:  who  is  the  god  to  whom 
we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

“  He  whose  power  these  snowy  mountains,  whose  power  the  sea  proclaims. 


336  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


with  the  distant  river.  He  whose  these  regions  are  as  it  were  his  two  arms: 
who  is  the  god  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

“  He  through  whom  the  sky  is  bright  and  the  earth  firm.  He  through  whom 
the  heaven  was  established — nay,  the  highest  heaven ;  he  who  measured  out 
the  light  in  the  air:  who  is  the  god  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

He  to  whom  heaven  and  earth,  standing  firm  by  his  will,  look  up,  trembling 
inwardly ;  he  over  whom  the  rising  sun  shines  forth ;  who  is  the  god  to  whojn 
we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

"  May  he  not  destroy  us,  he  the  creator  of  the  earth  ;  or  he  the  righteous, 
who  created  heaven ;  he  who  also  created  the  bright  and  mighty  waters :  who 
is  the  god  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ?  ” 

THE  BRAHMANIC  GODS. 

Of  the  later  Hindoo  religion  the  chief  deities  are  Brahma, 
Vishnu,  and  Siva — forming  the  Hindoo  Trinity,  or  Trimurti. 
These  are  not  regarded  as  separate,  independent  gods,  but 
merely  as  three  manifestations  or  revelations  or  phases  of  the 
spirit  or  energy  of  the  supreme  incomprehensible  being 
Brahm.  This  trinity  is  a  comparatively  late  formation. 
The  trinity  of  the  later  Vedic  writings  is  composed  rather, 
of  the  representative  gods  of  earth,  air,  and  sky.  Agni, 
Vayu,  and  Surya.  Again,  no  such  trinity  as  the  Brahmanic, 
appears  to  be  known  in  the  Mahabharata,  which  represents 
Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Indra  as  being  the  sons  of  Mahadeva, 
or  Siva.  Perhaps,  however,  the  reason  of  this  is  to  be  found 
in  the  mutual  jealousy  of  the  two  great  sects,  Vaishnavas  and 
Saivas,  into  which  the  Hindoo  religion  came  to  be  divided.  . 
To  Brahm  as  the  self-existent — of  whom  there  is  no  image — 
there  existed  neither  temples  nor  altars.  As  signifying, 
among  other  things,  the  principle  of  divinity,  the  name 
Brahm  is  of  the  neuter  gender,  and  the  divine  essence  is  de¬ 
scribed  as  that  which  illumines  all,  delights  all,  whence  all 


XLI. 

r  -  • 


Trimiirti,  or  Hindoo  Trinity. 


Indra. 


- 


' 


THE  BRAHMANIC  GODS. 


337 


proceeds,  that  of  which  all  live  when  born,  and  that  to  which 
all  must  return. 


BRAHMA 
(plate  xlii.) 

Is  that  member  of  the  triad  whose  name  is  best  known  to 
Englishmen,  and  most  familiar  to  the  Hindoos  themselves. 
Images  of  him  are  found  in  the  temples  of  other  gods,  but  he 
has  neither  temples  nor  altars  of  his  own.  The  reason  of 
this  is  that  Brahma,  as  the  creative  energy,  is  quiescent,  and 
will  remain  so  until  the  end  of  the  present  age  of  the  world 
— of  the  Kali  Yuga ,  that  is — only  a  small  portion  of  whose 
432,000  years  has  already  passed. 

It  appears,  however,  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  represent 
even  the  divine  spirit  of  Brahm;  for  the  god  Narayana  means 
the  spirit  moving  on  the  waters.  Narayana  is  figured  as  a 
graceful  youth  lying  on  a  snake  couch  which  floats  on  the 
water,  and  holding  his  toe  in  his  mouth. 

Brahma  is  figured  as  a  four-headed  god,  bearing  in  one 
hand  a  copy  of  the  Vedas,  in  another  a  spoon  for  pouring  out 
the  lustral  water  contained  in  a  vessel  which  he  holds  in  a 
third  hand,  while  the  fourth  hand  holds  a  rosary.  The  rosary 
was  used  by  the  Hindoos  to  aid  them  in  contemplation,  a 
bead  being  dropped  on  the  silent  pronunciation  of  each  name 
of  the  god,  while  the  devotee  mused  on  the  attribute  signified 
by  the  name. 

Brahma,  like  each  god,  had  his  sacti,  or  wife,  or  female 
counterpart,  and  his  valiana  or  vehicle,  whereon  he  rode. 
Brahma’s  sacti ,  is  Saraswati,  the  goddess  of  poetry,  wis¬ 
dom,  eloquence,  and  fine  art.  His  vahana.  was  the  goose — • 

hansa ,  in  Latin,  anser ,  in  German,  gans. 

22 


338  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


VISHNU 

(plate  xlii.) 

Is  the  personification  of  the  preserving  power  of  the  divine 
spirit.  The  Vaishnavas  allege  that  Vishnu  is  the  paramount 
god,  because  there  is  nothing  distinctive  in  the  act  of  an¬ 
nihilation,  but  only  a  cessation  of  preservation.  But  of 
course  the  argument  would  cut  all  three  ways,  for  it  might  as 
well  be  said  that  creation,  preservation,  and  destruction  are 
at  bottom  only  one  and  the  same  thing — a  fact  thus  pointing 
to  the  unity  of  God.  Of  the  two  Hindoo  sects  the  Vaish- 
naivas  are  perhaps  the  more  numerous.  Vishnu  is  repre¬ 
sented  as  being  of  a  blue  colour  ;  his  vahana  is  Garuda,  the 
winged  half-man,  half-bird,  king  of  birds,  and  his  saeti,  or 
wife,  is  the  goddess  Lakshmi.  He  is  said  to  have  four  hands 
— one  holding  a  shankha ,  or  shell,  the  second  a  chakra  or 
quoit,  the  third  a  club,  and  the  fourth  a  lotus  Plate  XLII. 
represents  Vishnu  lying  asleep  on  Ananta,  the  serpent  of 
eternity.  At  the  end  of  the  Kali  Yuga,  Vishnu  will  rest  in 
that  position ;  from  his  navel  will  spring  a  lotus  stalk,  on  the 
top  of  which — above  the  surface  of  the  waters,  which  at  that 
time  will  cover  the  world — Brahma  will  appear  to  create  the 
earth  anew. 

SIVA 

(plate  xliii.) 

Is  the  destroyer — the  third  phase  of  Brahm’s  energy.  He  is 
represented  as  of  a  white  colour.  His  saeti  is  Bhavani  or 
Pracriti,  the  terrible  Doorga  or  Kali,  and  his  vahana  a  white 


XLII. 


Brahma  with  Saraswati. 


XI, III 


THE  BRAHMANIC  GODS. 


339 


bull.  Sometimes  Siva  is  figured  with  a  trident  in  one  hand, 
and  in  another  a  rope  or  pashat  with  which  he,  or  his  wife 
Kali,  strangles  evil-doers.  His  necklace  is  made  of  human 
skulls ;  serpents  are  his  ear-rings ;  his  loins  are  wrapped  in 
tiger’s  skin;  and  from  his  head  the  sacred  river  Ganga  is  re¬ 
presented  as  springing. 

Among  the  minor  deities  may  be  mentioned  Kuvera,  the 
god  of  riches ;  Lakshmi,  being  the  goddess  of  wealth ;  Kama- 
deva,  the  god  of  love,  who  is  represented  (see  Plate  XLIII.) 
as  riding  on  a  dove,  and  armed  with  an  arrow  of  flowers,  and 
a  bow  whose  string  is  formed  of  bees;  and  thirdly,  Ganesha, 
the  son  of  Siva  and  Prithivi,  who  is  regarded  as  the  wisest  of 
all  the  gods,  is  especially  the  god  of  prudence  and  policy,  and 
is  invoked  at  the  opening  of  Hindoo  literary  works. 

AVATARS  OF  VISHNU. 

The  word  avatar  means,  in  its  plain  sense,  Descent — that  is, 
from  the  world  of  the  gods  to  the  world  of  men.  In  these 
descents,  or  incarnations,  the  purpose  of  Vishnu  has  always 
been  a  beneficent  one.  His  first  avatar  is  named  Matsya, 
wherein,  during  the  reign  of  King  Satyavrata,  Vishnu  appeared 
in  the  form  of  a  fish.  For  the  world  had  been  deluged  by 
water  for  its  wickedness,  and  its  inhabitants  had  perished,  ex¬ 
cept  the  king  and  seven  sages,  with  their  families,  who  to¬ 
gether  with  pairs  of  all  species  of  animals,  entered  into  an  ark 
prepared  for  them,  and  of  which  the  fish  took  care,  by  having 
its  cable  tied  to  its  horn.  In  the  second,  or  Kurma  avatar, 
Vishnu  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  tortoise,  supporting  Mount 
Mandara  on  his  back,  while  the  gods  churned  the  sea  for  the 
divine  ambrosia.  In  the  Varaha,  or  third  avatar,  Vishnu 


340  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


appeared  as  a  boar  to  save  the  earth  when  it  had  been  drowned 
a  second  time.  The  boar  went  into  the  sea  and  fished  the 
earth  out  on  his  tusks.  In  the  fourth  he  appeared  as  N  ara- 
singha,  the  man-lion,  to  free  the  world  from  a  monarch  who, 
for  his  austerities,  had  been  endowed  by  the  gods  with  univer¬ 
sal  dominion.  In  this  shape  Vishnu  tore  the  king  to  pieces. 
Subsequently  he  appeared  as  a  dwarf ;  then  as  Rama,  the  hero 
of  the  Ramayana,  who  likewise  was  a  beneficent  being.  His 
chief  incarnation  appears  in  Krishna,  the  god  who  is  most 
loved  by  the  Hindoos.  Buddha,  the  founder  of  the  Buddhist 
religion,  was  also  said  to  be  an  incarnation  of  Vishnu.  Nine 
of  these  avatars  have  already  passed.  In  the  tenth,  or  Kalki 
Avatara,  he  will  appear  armed  with  a  scimitar,  and  riding 
on  a  white  horse,  when  he  will  end  the  present  age  ;  after 
which  he  will  sleep  on  the  waters,  produce  Brama,  and  so  in¬ 
augurate  a  new  world. 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF 

EGYPT. 


GYPTIAN  myths  undoubtedly  originated  and  were  de- 


-fl — ^veloped  similarly  to  the  myths  of  all  other  nations  with 
which  we  are  acquainted.  Yet  an  indication  of  the  various 
stages  of  that  development,  and  an  understanding  of  the 
system  as  a  whole,  and  as  it  is  now  known  to  us,  are  far  more 
difficult  in  the  case  of  Egyptian  than  of  Greek,  Norse,  Ger¬ 
manic,  or  Hindoo  mythology.  The  reason  of  this  is  very 
evident.  The  Egyptian  religion  seems  to  have  reached  its  ab¬ 
stract  or  metaphysical  stage  long  before  any  of  the  religions 
to  which  we  have  referred  ;  and  as  its  records  belong  wholly 
to  that  stage,  there  are  no  means  of  enabling  the  student  to 
bridge  over  the  gap  between  its  earliest  and  its  latest  forma¬ 


tions 


Indeed,  it  would  appear  as  if  precisely  the  same  kind  of 
difference  existed  between  the  Egyptian  and  the  Greek  genius 
as  between  the  Greek  genius  and  that  of  the  Hindoos.  The 
temperament  of  the  Greek  was  open,  joyous,  sensuous ;  that 
of  the  other  two  races  was  self-repressive,  brooding,  and  mys¬ 
tical.  The  bias  or  mental  bent  of  these  was  not  so  much 
towards  what  was  artistically  or  logically  preventible,  as 
towards  the  elusive,  mysterious  spirit  of  which  they  imagined 
all  things  visible  and  tangible  to  be  merely  the  veil.  The 


34i 


342 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 


Greek  was  artistically  sensuous ;  the  Hindoo  was  mystically 
religious.  Or,  the  difference  between  them  may  be  said  to 
resemble  that  between  form  and  colour.  The  contrast  in  in¬ 
tellectual  bias  between  the  Egyptians  and  their  adversaries, 
the  Greeks,  is  sufficiently  indicated  in  what  Herodotus  says 
of  the  Egyptian  contempt  for  the  claims  made  by  the  Greeks 
of  descent  from  the  gods.  The  priests  of  Egypt  could  only 
laugh  at  the  absurdity  of  the  belief  according  to  which  a  god 
was  said  to  be  the  sixteenth  ancestor  of  Hecataeos.  Our 
gods,  said  they,  never  lived  on  earth. 

However,  it  appears  as  if  a  comparison  of  it  with  other 
systems  shows  that  the  mythology  of  Egypt  is,  in  great  mea¬ 
sure  at  least,  explicable  by  the  general  doctrines  implied  in 
the  title  “Solar  Myth.”  Even  that  very  readiness  with  which 
the  Greeks  identified  the  Egyptian  gods  with  their  own  af¬ 
fords,  if  not  proof,  at  all  events  some  countenance,  to  the 
supposition  that  both  Pantheons  were,  so  to  speak,  peopled 
after  the  same  manner.  Again,  the  functions  and  characters 
of  the  Egyptian  gods  interchange  like  those  of  the  Greek  and 
Norse  gods.  Their  names  have  in  both  cases  similar  physical 
meanings.  In  both  cases  also  the  birth  and  genealogy  of  the 
gods  appear  to  be  but  an  expression  of  physical,  visible  se¬ 
quences.  We  find  in  both  cases  the  same  confusion,  or 
identity,  between  a  god’s  mother  and  his  sister ;  and  what 
appears  to  be  the  same  conflict  between  the  light-giving  and 
the  light-stealing  powers  of  nature.  The  old  German  religion 
is,  perhaps,  of  a  more  spiritual  character  than  that  of  Egypt. 
Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  idea  of  the  contest  between  the 
purely  spiritual  powers  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman  was  originally 
only  the  idea  of  the  contest  between  the  sunlight,  Indra,  and 
the  clouds  or  darkness,  Vritra.  This  seems  a  strong  indirect 


NEPH. - PTH  AH. 


343 


proof  that  Osiris  and  Typho  are  the  same  as  Indra  and  Vritra. 
The  idea  of  dynastic  overthrow  and  succession  common  to 
the  Aryan  religions,  and  presented  with  such  weird  and  pa¬ 
thetic  grandeur  in  Norse  mythology,  is,  if  at  all,  but  faintly 
defined  in  the  religion  of  Egypt.  Yet  it  seems  to  be  implied 
in  such  phrases  as  “  Osirian  divinities/’  and  “three  orders 
of  the  gods.”  Lastly,  it  appears  that  many  of  the  Egyptian 
deities  are  only  personified  attributes  of  one  and  the  same 
thing  or  person. 

The  eight  great  gods  of  Egypt  were,  Neph,  Amun, 
Pthah,  Khem,  Sati,  Maut,  and  Bubastis. 

NEPH 

Is  also  named  Num,  Nu,  Nef,  Cnouphis,  and  Cenubis.  Now 
Nef  means  spirit  or  breath,  in  which  sense  it  is  still  retained 
in  Arabic.  He  is  “the  spirit  of  God  moving  on  the  face  of 
the  waters.”  Therefore  in  this  special,  physical  sense  Neph 
corresponds  to  the  Teutonic  Woden,  or  Wuotan  (see  p.  313); 
as  also  Brahma  and  Zeus.  Neph  was  worshipped  in  Ethiopia 
and  the  Thebais.  He  is  represented  as  having  a  ram’s  head 
*  with  curved  horns.  His  wife,  or  in  Hindoo  phraseology 
sacti,  was  named  Auka. 

PTHAH 

Is  only  Neph  under  a  new  name ;  or,  to  express  it  otherwise, 
he  represents  a  special  energy  of  that  god.  He  is  the  creator, 
or  the  universal  life  in  action .  Jamblichus  calls  him  the 
de7niourgosy  or  artisan  of  the  world;  and  the  Greeks  regarded 
him  as  the  counterpart  of  their  own  artisan  god,  Hephaestos 
or  Vulcan.  As  the  creator  he  was  thought  of  as  the  father 
and  sovereign  of  the  gods.  He  was  worshipped  chiefly  in 


344 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 


Memphis.  He  appears  as  a  mummy-shaped  male  figure ;  also 
as  the  pigmy-god. 

KHEM, 

Like  the  former  god,  is  only  a  special  energy  or  activity  of 
the  universal  life.  He  is  a  personified  attribute,  or  epithet. 
He  is  the  god  of  generation  and  reproduction,  and  was  iden¬ 
tified  as  Pan  by  the  Greeks,  who  called  his  chief  city — Chem- 
mis,  in  the  Thebais — by  the  name  of  Panopolis.  But  Khem 
not  only  merges  into  the  god  Num  or  Neph,  he  also  usurps 
the  functions  of,  or  is  the  same  as,  the  garden-god  Ranno. 
It  was  but  natural  that  the  god  of  reproduction  should 
also  be  a  garden-god.  This  garden-god,  Ranno,  was  repre¬ 
sented  under  the  form  of  an  asp,  whose  figure  is  found 
on  wine-presses  and  garden  and  agricultural  implements. 
It  should  here  be  observed  that  Priapus,  the  classical  counter¬ 
part  of  the  procreative  Khem,  was  the  tutelary  deity  of 
gardens. 

AMUN 

Was  the  chief  god  of  Upper  Egypt.  From  the  signification 
of  the  name — “hidden” — it  would  appear  that  Amun  was  a 
deity  of  a  highly  spiritual  character.  As  in  the  preceding 
instances,  he  is  identified  or  connected  with  various  other 
gods,  e.  g.,  he  is  named  as  Amun-ra  (Ra  being  the  sun-god), 
and  Amun-num  (Num,  the  living  breath  or  spirit).  His 
companion  goddess  was  Mut  or  Maut ;  and  the  two  deities, 
with  their  son  Khuns,  formed  the  Trinity  of  Upper  Egypt. 

SATI 

% 

The  Greeks  imagined  to  be  the  same  as  Hera.  As  such  she 


NEPH. - PTHAH. 


345 


would  be  the  queen  of  heaven;  but  a  distinction  was  made 
between  her  and 

NEITH, 

Who  was  said  to  be  the  goddess  of  the  upper  heaven  (or 
ether),  whereas  Sati  was  the  goddess  of  the  lower  heaven  (or 
air).  If  Neith  be  a  sky-deity,  and  if  she  be  also  the  mother 
of  the  sun-god,  the  facts  are  another  instance  from  Egyptian 
mythology  of  that  same  process  through  which  the  Greeks 
peopled  their  Olympos  and  the  Norsemen  their  Asgard.  But 
further,  the  functions  attributed  to  Neith  seem  to  show  that 
the  idea  of  this  goddess  was  developed  much  in  the  same  way 
as  that  of  the  Greek  Athene.  As  Athene  in  Greek,  and 
Ahana  in  Sanscrit,  meant  originally  the  light  of  the  dawn, 
and  finally,  moral  and  intellectual  light,  so  we  find  that  Neith 
also  came  to  be  a  deity  of  wisdom.  This  goddess  was  wor¬ 
shipped  especially  at  Sals  in  the  Nile  delta. 

MAUT, 

To  whom  we  have  already  referred  as  the  second  person  of 
the  Theban  Trinity,  meant  the  Mother, — Mother  Nature, — 
and  thus  corresponded  to  the  Greek  Demeter. 

BUBASTIS 

Was  chiefly  worshipped  in  the  town  of  Bubastus  in  Lower 
Egypt.  She  was  said  to  be  the  daughter  of  the  great  goddess 
Isis.  She  was  represented  with  the  head  of  a  cat,  the  animal 
specially  sacred  to  her. 

RA 

Comes  first  in  the  second  class  of  deities.  The  Greeks 


346  THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 


identified  him  with  their  own  sun-god,  Helios,  and  called  the 
city  in  which  he  was  principally  worshipped  Heliopolis.  He 
is  represented  with  a  hawk’s  head,  over  which  is  a  solar  disc. 
His  purely  physical  origin  seems  to  be  proved  by  the  myths 
that  Neith,  or  the  upper  air,  was  his  mother ;  and  that  he 
married  Mut  (Demeter) :  this  merely  signifying  the  interac¬ 
tion  of  earth  and  sunlight  in  producing  vegetation.  But  again, 
Ra  was  said  to  have  for  children  Athor,  Mu,  and  Mat.  Athor 
was  identified  with  Aphrodite,  who  was  originally  the  goddess 
of  light ;  while  Mu  means  physical  light,  and  Mat  moral  light. 
Precisely  the  same  transition  in  meaning  happens  in  the  story 
of  Neith,  and  in  that  of  Athene,  Ahana,  Ushas,  and  Eos.  The 
wide  prevalence  of  this  god’s  worship  shows  in  what  impor¬ 
tance  he  was  held,  an  importance  naturally  attaching  to  the 
sun-god  among  all  nations  given  to  elemental  worship.  From 
Ra,  with  the  prefixed  syllable  Pi,  was  derived  the  name  Phrah, 
or,  in  Old  Testament  spelling,  Pharaoh.  Every  Pharaoh  was 
thus  entitled  son  of  the  sun.  All  this  suggests  that  Sabaeism, 
or  fire-worship,  was  originally  practised  in  Egypt.  Ra  is  also 
identical  with  Baal,  a  name  implying  “lord,”  and  applied  to 
the  sun.  Baalbek  means  “city  of  the  sun,”  and  was  so  named 
by  the  Greeks — Heliopolis. 


SEB 

Is  said  to  be  the  son  of  Ra.  He  is  a  sort  of  Egyptian 
Kronos,  being  represented  in  the  hieroglyphics  to  be  the 
father  of  the  gods.  Here  again  we  have  an  interchange  of 
functions;  for  it  has  been  seen  that  Neph,  Pthah,  etc.,  have 
been  similarly  described.  Also,  like  other  gods  in  and  out  of 
Gre£k  mythology,  Seb  marries  his  own  sister,  Nutpe.  These 


/ 


XLIV 


Osiris. 


OSIRIS. 


347 


two  were  at  the  head  of  the  “  Osirian  divinities  ” — Osiris,  Isis, 
Seth,  Nephthys.  Nutpe  or  Nepte  has  been  identified  with 
Rhea.  She  is  supposed  to  coincide  with  Lucina,  and  to  pre¬ 
side  over  births  and  nursing.  As  being  the  mother  of  Isis 
and  Osiris,  she  was  called  the  mother  of  the  gods. 

OSIRIS, 

(plate  xliv.,) 

The  great  deity  of  the  Egyptians,  has  been  by  some  identi¬ 
fied  with  the  sun,  or  sunlight,  or  the  vivifying  powers 
in  nature.  According  to  this  view  the  sleep  or  death  of 
Osiris  means  the  sleep  of  the  spring-maiden  Brynhild  (see  p. 
324),  or  the  imprisonment  of  Persephone  in  the  dark  realm 
of  Hades.  His  contest  with  Seb  (by  the  Greeks  called  Ty- 
pho)  would  certainly  seem  to  be  another  instance  of  the  plau¬ 
sibility,  at  least,  of  this  view.  At  any  rate,  Osiris,  being  re¬ 
stored  to  life,  became  the  judge  of  the  under-world.  There 
he  listens  to  Thoth’s  tale  of  the  character  of  the  disembodied 
souls,  who  are  introduced  to  the  judge  by  Horus  (the  son  of 
Osiris),  after  their  good  and  bad  deeds  have  been  weighed  by 
Anubis  in  the  scale  of  truth. 

These  trials  in  the  under-world  were  attended  by  forty 
officers,  called  Assessors  of  the  Dead,  who  are  thus  described 
by  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson:  “ These  assessors  were  similar  to 
the  bench  of  judges  who  attended  at  the  ordinary  tribunals 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  whose  president,  or  arch-judge,  cor¬ 
responded  to  Osiris.  The  assessors  were  represented  in  a 
human  form  with  different  heads.  The  first  had  the  head  of 
a  hawk,  the  second  of  a  man,  the  third  of  a  hare,  the  fourth 
of  a  hippopotamus,  the  fifth  of  a  man,  the  sixth  of  a  bawk? 


348  THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 


the  seventh  of  a  fox,  the  eighth  of  a  man,  the  ninth  of  a 
ram,  the  tenth  of  a  snake,  and  the  others  according  to  their 
peculiar  character  .  .  .  They  are  supposed  to  represent  the 
forty-two  crimes  from  which  a  virtuous  man  was  expected  to 
be  free  when  judged  in  a  future  state ;  or  rather  the  accusing 
spirits,  each  of  whom  examined  if  the  deceased  was  guilty  of 
the  peculiar  evil  which  it  was  his  province  to  avenge.” 

The  worship  of  Osiris  was  universal  throughout  Egypt, 
where  he  was  gratefully  regarded  as  the  great  example  of  self- 
sacrifice,  as  the  manifester  of  good,  as  the  opener  of  truth, 
and  as  being  full  of  goodness  and  truth.  As  Osiris  was  the 
personification  of  physical  and  moral  good,  so  his  brother  Seb 
(Typho)  was  the  personification  of  all  evil.  Of  the  analogy 
between  these  two  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  old  Persian 
deities  of  good  and  evil,  we  have  already  spoken. 

Another  explanation  of  the  Osirian  myth  has  thus  been 
given:  Osiris  was  the  Nile  god.  (Plate  XLIV.)  The  river, 
in  its  periodical  inundations,  was  said  to  have  married  the 
earth  (Isis,  Rhea),  and  in  its  retreat  to  have  been  killed  by 
the  giant  of  Sterility  (Seb,  or  Typhon),  who  was  jealous, 
perhaps,  of  the  wondrous  fruitfulness  of  the  marriage  between 
the  soil  and  the  great  river. 

APIS 

Was  the  great  beast-god  of  Egypt.  This  sacred  bull  was 
known  as  Apis  at  Memphis,  and  as  Mnevis,  or  Onuphis,  at 
Heliopolis.  His  worship  was  so  prevalent  and  popular, 
because  he  was  regarded  as  an  avatar,  or  incarnation,  of  the 
favourite  deity  Osiris,  whose  soul  had  transmigrated  into  the 
body  of  a  bull.  The  sacred  bull  was  allowed  to  live  for  no 
more  than  twenty-five  years,  at  the  end  of  which  it  was  taken 


APIS. 


349 


to  the  Nile,  and  drowned  in  one  of  the  sacred  wells.  His 
death  was  followed  by  national  mournings,  which,  however, 
gave  place  to  national  thanksgivings,  as  soon  as  a  new  Avatar, 
or  sacred  bull  discovered  himself  by  the  following  marks :  a 
black  coat,  a  white  triangular  spot  on  the  forehead,  a  spot 
like  a  half-moon  on  its  right  side,  and  under  its  tongue  a 
knot  like  a  beetle.  The  following  quotations  from  H£lian,  as 
given  in  Wilkinson,  narrate  the  ceremonies  consequent  on 
the  re-discovery  of  Osiris: — • 

“  As  soon  as  a  report  is  circulated  that  the  Egyptian  god  has 
manifested  himself,  certain  of  the  sacred  scribes,  well  versed 
in  the  mythical  marks,  known  to  them  by  tradition,  approach 
the  spot  where  the  divine  cow  has  deposited  her  calf,  and 
there,  following  the  ancient  ordinance  of  Hermes,  feed  it  with 
milk  during  four  months,  in  a  house  facing  the  rising  sun. 
When  this  period  has  passed  the  sacred  scribes  and  prophets 
resort  to  the  dwelling  of  Apis,  at  the  time  of  the  new  moon, 
and  placing  him  in  a  boat  prepared  for  the  purpose,  convey 
him  to  Memphis,  where  he  has  a  "convenient  and  agreeable 
abode,  with  pleasure  grounds  and  ample  space  for  wholesome 
exercise.  Female  companions  of  his  own  species  are  provided 
for  him,  the  most  beautiful  that  can  be  found,  kept  in  apart¬ 
ments  to  which  he  has  access  when  he  wishes.  He  drinks  out 
of  a  well,  or  fountain  of  clear  water  :  for  it  is  not  thought 
right  to  give  him  the  water  of  the  Nile,  which  is  considered 
too  fattening  .  .  The  man  from  whose  herd  the  divine 

beast  has  sprung  is  the  happiest  of  mortals,  and  is  looked  upon 
with  admiration  by  all  people.’ ’  Cambyses,  it  is  said,  found 
a  set  of  villagers  rejoicing  over  a  new  sacred  bull,  and  fancy¬ 
ing  they  were  making  merry  over  his  recent  defeat  in  Ethio¬ 
pia,  the  king  of  kings  at  once  ran  the  bull  through  the  body, 


35° 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 


and  had  the  priests  flogged.  It  was  considered  a  good  omen 
if  the  bull  ate  food  offered  to  it.  Men  also  listened  at  the 
ears  of  Apis,  then  put  their  hands  to  their  own  ears  to  prevent 
the  escape  of  the  secret,  which  they  interpreted  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  first  words  they  chanced  to  hear  uttered. 

SERAPIS 
(plate  xlv.) 

Was  another  name  of  Osiris,  although  the  Greeks  said  that 
his  worship  was  not  known  in  Egypt  until  the  time  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  when  it  was  introduced  from  Sinope,  under 
the  name  of  Serapis.  Serapis  was  known  as  the  judge  of  the 
under-world. 


ISIS 

(plate  xlv.) 

Was  the  wife  of  Osiris,  also  a  counterpart  of  him;  for,  as  he 
was  judge  of  the  dead,  so  she  is  described  as  the  giver  of  death. 
She  is  identified  with  Ceres  and  Persephone,  and,  in  this  view, 
the  grief  of  Isis  for  her  husband  may  be  regarded  as  an  Egyp¬ 
tian  version  of  the  myth  representing  Demeter  as  mourning 
for  the  loss  of  her  daughter.  Apuleius  makes  her  declare : 
“I  am  nature,  the  parent  of  all  the  gods,  mistress  of  all  the 
elements,  the  beginning  of  all  the  ages,  sovereign  of  the  gods, 
queen  of  the  manes,  and  the  first  of  the  heavenly  beings.” 
But  as  the  mother  of  all  she  is  convertible  with  Mat  and  Nutpe 
(see  pp.  346,  347).  And  then  Apuleius  proceeds:  “My 
divinity,  uniform  in  itself,  is  honoured  under  numerous  forms, 


i 


XI,  V. 


x 


\  ■ 


* 


. 

ANUBIS. 


3  51 


various  rites,  and  different  names.  .  .  .  but  the  sun-illumed 
Ethiopians,  and  the  Egyptians  renowned  for  ancient  lore, 
worship  me  with  due  ceremonies,  and  call  me  by  my  real 
name,  ‘  Queen  Isis.’  ”  Plutarch  considers  Isis  to  be  the  earth, 
the  feminine  part  of  nature,  while  Diodorus  says  that  the 
Egyptians,  considering  the  earth  to  be  the  parent  of  all  things 
born,  called  her  Mother,  just  as  the  Greeks  called  earth 
Demeter. 


ANUBIS, 

With  Hor,  or  Horus,  and  Har-pi-chruti,  or  Harpocrates, 
were  the  children  of  Osiris  and  Isis.  The  first  was  a  jackal¬ 
headed  god ;  and,  according  to  another  myth,  was  the  son  of 
Osiris  and  Nephthys,  a  sister  of  Isis,  who,  fearing  the  jealousy 
of  Isis,  concealed  the  child  by  the  sea-shore.  The  office  of 
Anubis  was  to  superintend  the  passage  of  souls  to  their  abode 
in  the  unseen  world.  As  such  he  corresponded  to  the  Greek 
Hermes  Psychopompos.  Anubis  presided  over  tombs;  and 
he  is  frequently  introduced  in  sculpture  as  standing  over  a  bier 
on  which  a  corpse  is  deposited.  Horus  was  a  hawk-headed 
god.  As  the  avenger  of  his  father  Osiris,  who  was  slain  by 
Typhon,  he  was  identified  by  the  Greeks  as  Apollo.  He  also 
corresponded  in  some  degree  to  the  sun-god  Ra,  and  was 
worshipped  by  the  Egyptians  as  representing  the  vivifying 
power  of  the  sun.  Harpocrates  seems  to  be  merely  another 
version  of  Horus — he  is  a  personification  of  the  sun.  He  is 
represented  as  a  child  sitting  on  a  lotus  flower,  with  his  finger 
on  his  lips.  Under  this  figure  he  was  thought  of  as  the  god 
of  silence.  Perhaps  in  placing  a  representation  of  him  in 
front  of  each  of  their  temples,  the  wise  Egyptians  meant  to 


352 


THE  MYTHOLOGY  AND  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT. 


symbolize  the  fact  that  worship  ought  to  be  conducted  with 
silence. 


THOTH 

«. 

Was  the  god  of  letters,  the  clerk  of  the  under-world,  and  the 
keeper  of  the  records  for  the  great  judge  Osiris.  He  is  rep¬ 
resented  with  the  head  of  an  ibis,  and  bearing  a  tablet,  pen, 
and  palm-branch.  So  great  was  the  respect  in  which  the 
sacred  ibis  was  held — on  account,  no  doubt,  of  its  usefulness 
in  destroying  venomous  reptiles — that  any  one  guilty  of  kill¬ 
ing  it  was  himself  punished  with  death. 

ANOUKE 

Was  the  third  member  of  the  trinity  of  Northern  Ethiopia, 
the  other  two  members  being  Sati  and  Neph. 

THE  SPHINX, 

Unlike  her  Greek  representative — who  was  a  cruel  monster 
born  of  the  evil  powers  Typhon  and  Echidna — was  a  benefi¬ 
cent  being  who  personified  the  fruit-bearing  earth,  and,  like 
the  sun  and  sky  powers  we  have  named  above,  was  a  deity  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  Her  figure — lion-bodied,  with  the 
head  and  breast  of  a  woman — was  placed  before  every  temple. 
The  Egyptian  Cerberus,  or  hell  watch-dog,  must  have  been  a 
more  forbidding  and  strange-looking  animal  than  his  Greek 
brother.  He  had  the  trunk  and  legs  of  a  hippopotamus,  with 
the  head  of  a  crocodile. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abas,  212,  213 
Abdera,  255 
Abderos,  255 
Absyrtos,  275 
Achseans,  206,  239 
Acheloi’des,  149 
Acheloos,  149,  15 1,  264 
Acheron,  59 

Achilles,  60,  81,  147,  158,  167, 
176,  203,  233,  251,  289,  290, 
291,  292,  293,  294,  295,  296,  297, 
298 

Admetos,  106,  262,  270,  272 

Adonaia,  Adonias,  86 

Adonis,  86,  317 

Adrastea,  29,  186 

Adrastos,  277,  278,  27 9,  281 

Aakos,  62 

Aetes,  274,  275 

Aegeus,  239,  241,  266,  268,  275 

^Egina,  71,  84,  85,  128,  219 

Agipanes,  137 

Agisthos,  245,  301,  302 

JEgle,  108,  157 

Agyptos,  21 1,  212 

Aiello,  190 

Aneas,  86,  95,  285,  301 
Aolians,  206 

Aolos  (wind  go4),  described,  163; 
195 

Aolos,  271,  305 
A  rope,  244 

Aschylus,  I,  14,  68,  231,  325 
Aesculapius,  see  Asklepios 
Alsir,  312,  313 
A son,  271 
A2ther,  22,  193 

23 


Athiopia,  216 
Athon,  67 

Athra,  1 54,  265,  286 
Atna,  82 

Agamemnon,  m,  189,^  245,  285, 
286,  287,  289,  290,  292,  293, 
296,  298,  301,  302,  303 
Aganippe,  1 57 
Agathodsemon,  197 
Agaue,  226,  227 
Agenor,  118,  21 1,  225,  240 
Aglaea,  174,  175 
Aglauros,  236 

Agni,  333,  334,  3 37 
Agriegentum,  241 
Agrotera,  no 
Ahi,  331 

Ahoma,  Dahana,  345,  346 
Ahriman,  342 

Aides,  Aidoneus,  see  Hades 

Ais,  Aides,  Aidoneus,  see  Hades 

Ajax,  203,  295,  297 

Akrisios,  213,  215,  217,  218,  323 

Aktaee,  147 

Aktceon,  ill,  226 

Alekto,  28,  190 

Alexander  the  Great,  1 1 5 

Alexandras,  see  Paris 

Alkaeos,  218 

Alkamenes,  77 

Alkestis,  262 

Alkinoos,  306 

Alkippe,  237 

Alkmseon,  278 

Alkmene,  39,  48,  218,  246 

Allcyoneus,  43 

Aloeus,  76,  209 

Alphabet  (Phoenician),  224 

353 


354 


INDEX. 


Alpheios,  114,  15 1 
Alsei’ds,  153 
Althaea,  173,  269,  270 
Amalthea,  29 
Amaiynthia,  114 
Amazons,  223,  256,  268,  295 
Ammon,  Amum,  216 
Amor,  see  Eros 
Amorettes,  Erotes,  171 
Amphianax,  213 
Amphiaraos,  278,  280,  281 
Amphion,  126;  legend  of,  227, 
247 

Amphitrite,  described,  55;  147,  148 

Amphitryon,  218,  246,  247 

Amun,  see  Ammon 

Amyklae,  99,  285 

Amyldas,  99 

Amykos,  273 

Amymone,  52,  21 1,  250 

Anadyomene,  85 

Ananke,  see  Fate 

Ananta,  339 

Anar,  see  Onar 

Anchirrhoe,  21 1 

Anchises,  86,  301 

Ancile,  78 

Androgeos,  241 

Andromache,  294,  30 1 

Andromeda,  51,  216,  217,  218,  219 

Ankaeos,  270 

Anouke,  352 

Antaeos,  52,  262 

Anteia,  222 

Anteros,  87,  169,  171 

Anthesteria,  120 

Antigone,  231,  277,  279,  282 

Antiope,  228,  229,  269 

Antium,  179,  183 

Anubis,  347,  35! 

Aoede,  158 
Apaturia,  82 
Apeliotes,  164 
Apelles,  1 

Aphrodite,  Venus,  10,  17,  24,  39, 
77;  described,  83;  97,  125,  130, 
J35»  J47>  161,  168,  169,  170, 

171,  172,  173,  174,  175,  176, 

x77>  I§7»  i95>  207,  226,  273, 

283,  284,  285,  286,  346 
Aphrodite  Pandemos,  85 


Apis,  Mnevis,  Onuphis,  348,  350 
Apollinarian  games,  107 
Apollo,  10,  15,  16,  20,  24,  39,  43, 
53,  61,  72;  described,  96,  1 08, 
109,  ill,  112,  123,  124,  125,  127, 
130,  I35»  x36>  i52,  153.  158,  161, 
172,  177,  178, 179,  181,  190,  202, 
209,  215,  228,  229,  234,  238,  252, 
256,  263,  269,  278,  283,  292, 
297,  299,  302,  303,  313,  351 
Appius  Claudius,  187 
Arabia,  21 1 

Arcadia,  6,  52,  66,  1 10,  1 12,  136, 
213,  250,  252 
Archemoros,  280 
Archimedes,  I 
Areopagus,  77,  237,  303 
Ares,  Mars,  10,  39,  47;  de¬ 

scribed,  75;  80,  87,  90,  125, 
138,  168, 187,  209,  220,  224,  226, 
237,  243,  253,  256,  307,  334 
Arethusa,  114,  151,  157 
Argeiphontes,  1 25 
Arges,  27 
Argiope,  235 
Argo,  54,271 
Argolis,  177 

Argonauts,  53,  54,  91,  150,  191, 
204,  209,  242,  253,  268 
Argonautic  expedition,  235,  269 
Argos,  125,  210,  21 1 
Argos,  district  of,  47,  48,  51,  52, 
87,  190,  221,  222 

Argos,  heroes  of,  210;  219,  245,246 
Ariadne,  120,  241,  267 
Arion,  52,  67,  119,  281 
Aristseos,  226,  234 
Arsinoe,  86 

7  t  »  . 

Artemis,  Diana,  10,  24,  39,  61, 

70,  100,  104;  described,  109; 
151,  152,  178,  190,  224,  226, 
229,  252,  253,  290,  303 
Arval  brothers,  307 
Asa  Bridge,  312 
Asa  folk,  310,  312,  316 
Asgard,  312,  313.  345 
Ash,  312 
Askanios,  86,  301 
Asklepia,  179 

Asklepios,  Aesculapius,  104,  106; 
described,  178;  181^182,  233 


INDEX. 


355 


Asopos,  1 5 1 ,  219,  228 

Astarte,  84,  210,  239 

Asteria,  70 

Asterion,  240 

Astrsea,  Dike,  39,  44,  128 

Astrseos,  164,  1 66 

Astyanax,  294 

Atalanta,  III,  270,  278 

Ate,  188,  189 

Athamas,  149,  226,  272 

Athene,  Pallas,  Minerva,  10,  24, 

39,  43>  47,  51,  73,75,82,  86,87; 
described,  88;  113, 125,  135,  157, 
175,  183,  187,  192,  207,  208, 
212,  215,  216,  217,218,  222,  225, 
226,  236,  237,  249,  283,  284,  292, 
298,  299,  303,  335,  345,  346 
Athens,  6,  28,  40,  69,  77,  92, 
93,  94,  101,  113,  114,  119, 
128,  129,  157, 164,  165,  169,  173, 
174, 176,  186,  190,  239,  241,  275 
Athor,  346 
Athos,  165 
Atlantids,  154 

Atlas,  121,  154,  156,  216,  258 
Atli,  324,  325 
Atreus,  244,  286 
Atropos,  185,  269 
Attica,  31,  51,  66,  67,  92,  119,  176, 
208,  232;  legends  of,  236;  239, 
241,  265,279 
Attis,  34 
Audhumbla,  31 1 
Augeian  Stables,  253 
Augeias,  253,  254 
Augurs,  139 
Augustus,  134 
Auka,  343 

Aulis,  hi,  288,  289,  290 

Auloniads,  153 

Aura,  167 

Aurora,  see  Eos 

Austri,  31 1 

Autonoe,  226 

Auxo,  175 

Avatars  of  Vishnu,  339 
Avernus,  58,  71 

B. 

Baal,  346 

Bakchos,  Bacchus,  see  Dionysos 


Baldr,  312,  313,  316 
Bali,  317 
Battos,  123 
Baukis,  38 

Bellerophon,  92,  166,  204;  de¬ 
scribed,  221 ;  248 
Belleros,  222 
Bellonarii,  188 
Belos,  21 1,  225 
Berekuntia,  33 
Bhavani,  Pracriti,  338 
Bias,  214 
Bifrons,  133 
Bifrost,  312,  319 

Boeotia,  52,  157,  169, 173,  174,  225 
Boeotos,  59 
Bor,  31 1 

Boreas,  131,  164,  165,  1 66,  191, 
196,  238,  256,  273,  274 
Borghild,  323 
Bori,  31 1 

Bragi,  313,  318,  319 
Brahm,  336,  337,  338 
Brahma,  336;  described,  337;  338, 
343 

Brahmanism,  327 
Branchidae,  103 
Brauronia,  114 
Breidablick,  312,  316 
Briareus,  26 
Briseis,  176,  292 
Britomartis,  III 
Bromios,  117 
Brono,  316 
Brontes,  26 

Bronze  Age,  44,  128,  242 
Bryrihild,  317,  324,  347 
Bubastis,  345 
Bubastus,  345 
Buddha,  340 
Buddhism,  327 
Busiris,  262 

C. 

Cadmus,  see  Kadmos 
Cambyses,  349 
Campania,  83 
Canens,  139 
Capitoline  Hill,  33 
Cappadocia,  218 


356 


INDEX. 


Carthage,  85 
Cassandra,  103 
Caucasus,  82,  207 
Centaurs,  231,  232,  233,  268 
Cerberus,  58,  248,  352 
Ceres,  see  Demeter 
Cerigo,  see  Cytherea 
Chalkeia,  82 
Chaos,  30,  193 
Charis,  83 

Charites,  Graces,  39,  47,  86,  130, 
161,  1 7 1  ;  described,  173  ;  176, 
186,  208 
Charitesia,  1 75 
Charlemagne,  309 
Charon,  58,  122 

Cheiron,  Chiron,  179,  233,  251, 
289 

Chimaera,  222 
Chiron,  see  Cheiron 
Chloris,  Flora,  13 1,  165 
Chrysaor,  216 
Chryse,  292 
Chrysei's,  292 
Chryses,  292 
Chrysippos,  244 
Circe,  139,  305 
Compitalia,  1 99 

Corinth,  15,  16,  49,  85,  87,  1 13, 
120,  213  ;  legends  of,  219;  230 
Cretan  Bull,  254 

Crete,  29,  30,  31,  49,  66,  111,  149, 
169,  174,  236;  legends  of, 

239 

Crimea,  6,  1 13 
Cumae,  58,  103 
Cumaean  Sibyl,  103 
Cupid,  see  Eros 
Cyparissus,  143 
Cyprus,  85,  86,  87 
Cyrene,  Kyrene,  99,  262 
Cytherea,  island  of,  85 
Cythere,  85,  87 

D. 

Daedalos,  241,  242 
Daemons  or  Genii,  197,  198,  203, 
204 

Damastes,  266 

Dan'ae,  214,  215,  217 


Banai'des,  61,  213 
Danaos,  52,  21 1,  212 
Daphne,  113 
Daphnephoria,  101 
Dardanos,  178 
Deianeira,  264,  265,  324 
Deidamia,  232,  288 
Deimos,  76 
Deino,  193 
Deioneus,  232 
Deiphobe,  103 
Delia,  105 

Delos,  82,  102,  104,  269. 

Delphi,  6,  15,  16,  17,  30,  97,  101 , 
102,  103,  104,  105,  214,  225, 
238,  263,  302 
Delphinia,  101 
Delphinion,  101 
Delphinios,  101 

Demeter,  Ceres,  5,  10,  24,  29,  33, 
39>  52>  57 >  61,  63  ;  described, 
65  ;  71,  120,  150,  172,  192,  243, 

345,  350,  35i 
Demigods,  200 
Demosthenes,  1 
Deukalion,  44,  206,  27 1 
Dia,  176,  231 
Diana,  see  Artemis 
Diana  of  Ephesus,  114,  115,  224 
Dike,  Astraea,  44,  131,  186 
Diktynna,  ill 
Diktys,  215,  217 
Dindumene,  33 

Diomedes,  75, 95,  255, 298, 299, 301 
D ione,  5,  39,  85 
Dionysia,  120 

Dionysos,  18,  43,  48,  69,  80,  8 1  ; 
described,  1 1 7  ;  135,  136,  137, 
140,  141,  144,  145, 148,  152,  154, 
171,  172,  173,  202,  213,  226,  227, 
235 

Dioskuri,  285,  286 
Dirae,  see  Erinys 
Dirke,  228,  229 
Discordia,  see  Eris 
Dithyrambos,  117,  118 
Dodona,  36,  84,  155 
Dodonids,  155 
Donar,  see  Thor 
Doorga,  Kali,  320,  338 
Dorides,  146,  147,  154 


INDEX. 


357 


Dorians,  206,  239 
Doris,  55,  146 
Dryads,  25,-153 
Dwarves,  315,  320 
Dwergmaal-Zwergsprache,  321 
Dyaus,  327;  described,  328;  329, 
336 

Dynamene,  147 

E. 

Echidna,  249,  331,352 
Echion,  227 
Echo,  155 

Edda,  310,  312,  325 
Egypt,  Religion  of,  341 
Eileithyia,  Eleutho,  48,  112 
Eirene,  Pax,  13 1;  described,  184 
Elektra,  162,  191,302 
Elektryon,  218 
Eleusinia,  68 

Eleusinian  Mysteries,  57,  64,  68, 
69,  120 

Eleusis,  6,  10,  66,  68,  69,  172,237, 
266 

Eleutherse,  228 

Eleutho,  see  Eileithyia 

Elfheim,  312,  320 

Elis,  16,  45,  47,  93,  1 12,  243 

Elis  and  Argos,  legends  of,  243 

Elpis,  172 

Elves,  320 

Elysion,  60,  196,  227 

Emathion,  167 

Embla,  312 

Enagonios,  123 

Endymion,  114 

Enipeus,  271 

Enkelados,  43,  91 

Enyalios,  187 

Enyo,  Bellonia,  187,  193 

Eos,  Aurora,  in,  164;  described, 

i65;  3J9,  334,  346 
Epaphos,  107,  210,  21 1 
Epeios,  299 
Ephesus,  1 15 

Ephialtes,  43,  76,  209,  231 
Epicurus,  1 
Epidauros,  179,  266 
Epigoni,  wife  of  Asklepios,  180 
Epigoni,  277,  282 
Epimelios,  126 


Epimenides,  103 
Epimetheus,  208 
Epopeus,  228 
Erato,  147,  1 61 
Erebos,  22,  184,  186,  1 93 
Erechtheum,  94 
Erechtheus,  237,  238,  265,  269 
Ergane,  92 

Erichthonios,  82,  92,  237 
Eridanus,  108 

Erinys,  Eumenides,  Semnoe,  Furise, 
28,  52,  64,  186;  described,  189; 
190,  192,  234,  303,327 
Eriphyle,  278 

Eris,  Discordia,  76,  187,  283 
Erl-Konig,  320 

Eros,  Cupid,  Amor,  22,  86  j  de¬ 
scribed,  168;  173 
Erotidia,  169 
Erymanthian  boar,  250 
Erymanthos,  250 
Erysichthon,  66 
Erytheis,  1 57 

Eteokles,  230,  277,  278,  280 
Eteoklos,  278 
Euboea,  49,  114 
Euclid,  I 

Eumenides,  see  Erinys,  187,  1 90, 
279,  3°3 

Eumolpos,  69,  237 
Euneike,  147 
Euneos,  273,  280 
Eunomia,  131 
Euphrosyne,  174 
Euripides,  I,  1 97 
Europa,  225,  239,  240,  242 
Euros,  164,  166 
Euryale,  191 
Eurybia,  27 

Eurydike,  153,  234,  316 
Eurynome,  39,  80,  1 74,  189,  316 
Euryphassa,  316 
Eurypylos,  298 

Eurystheus,  244,  246,  247,  248, 
250,  251,  255,  256 
Eurytion,  232 
Eurytos,  235,  248 
Euteq>e,  160 

F. 

Fafnir,  323,  324 


358 


INDEX. 


Farbanti,  319 

Fate,  39;  described,  184 

Fatuus,  see  Faunus 

Fauna,  Falua,  138;  described,  140; 

142,  143 

Faunalia,  138 

Faunus,  Fatuus,  138,  139,  140,  141 
Fays,  140 

Fenris,  318,  3 1 9,  320,  332 
Flamen  pomonalis,  132 
Flora,  see  Chloris 
Forseti,  313 
Fortuna,  See  Tyche 
Freija,  Frigg,  312,  314,  315 
Freyr,  Fro,  3I3»3I7>3J8 
Frigg,  see  Freija 
Fulla,  Volla,  315 
Furise,  see  Erinys 

G. 

Gaea,  Ge,  Tellus,  Terra,  5,  22,  26, 
28,  30,  33,  82,  127,  140,  145, 
146,  162,  188,  237 
Galatea,  147 
Galaxaure,  1 54 
Galene,  147 
Gamelia,  48 
Ganesa,  339 
Ganges,  20,  339 
Ganymeda,  176 

Ganymedes,  177;  described,  178 
Ge,  see  Gaea 
Gerda,  317 
Geryon,  256 
Geryoneus,  216,  256 
Giants,  22,  28,  43,  53,  91,  93,  145, 
148,  188,  202,  231 
Ginki,  310 
Ginnunga-gap,  31 1 
Gioll,  312 
Gladsheim,  312 
Glauke,  147,  275 
Glaukopis,  93 

Glaukos,  103;  described,  220 
Gmir,  321 

Golden  Age,  44,  128 
Gorgons,  91,  191,193,  216 
Gorgophone,  91 
Gortys,  239,  240,  241 
Graces,  see  Charites 


Graece,  193,  215 
Gram,  322,  323 
Gredr,  318 
Gudrun,  322,  324 
Gulltopr,  319 
Gunnar,  317,324 
Gyes,  see  Gyges 
Gyges,  Gyes,  26 
Gyrton,  231 

H. 

Hades,  Aides,  Pluto,  10,  36,  43, 
50;  described,  56;  62,  63,  66, 
129,  189,  215,  216,  220,  232, 

305.  347 
Hrernon,  282 
Hsemos,  235 
Halie,  147 
Halirrhotios,  237 
Plaloa,  Thalysia,  67 
Hamadryads,  1 31,  1 53 
Hamund,  323 
Harmonia,  158,  226,  283 
Harpe,  216 
Harpolcrates,  351 

Harpys,  162;  described,  190;  253 
Hastinapur,  325 
Hebdomeios,  102 

Hebe,  Juventas,  39;  described,  176; 
265 

•  Hebros,  235 

Hecate,  43;  described,  70;  140 
Hegemone,  175 
Heimdall,  313,  319 
Hekabe,  Hekuba,  283 
Hekate,  see  Hecate 
Hekatombseon,  41 
Hekatoncheires,  26,  27,  30 
Hektor,  76,  84,  291,  293,  294,  295, 
301 

Hel,  312,  320 
Hela,  312 

Helena,  186,  284,  285,  286,  287, 
291,  298,  301 
Helenos,  284,  297 
Helgi,  314,  323 
Heliades,  108 
Heligoland,  314 
Helikon,  157,  158,  173 
Heliopolis,  346,  348 


INDEX. 


359 


Helios,  Sol,  51,  77  ;  described,  96  ; 
109,  114,165,166,240,274,331, 
345 

Helle,  272 

Hellen,  206,  271,  272 
Hellespont,  135,  203 
Hemera,  22,  193 

Hephsestos,  Vulcan,  24,  27,  39,  43, 
47,  77;  described,  79;  87,  89, 
125,  175,  207, 208,  226,  237,  242, 

294,  296,  315,  333,343 
Hera,  Here,  Juno,  5,  10,  24,  29,  33, 
39,  40,  43  i  described,  46-49 ;  50, 
5G  56,  75.  79>  87,  91,  104,  1 18, 
125,  130,  140,  149,  156,  162, 
168,  176,  177,  185,  210,  212; 
image  of,  213  ;  214,  218, 219,  232, 
246,  247,  249,  255,  256,  271,  283, 
284,  344 

Herakles,  Hercules,  39,  42,  43,  47, 
52,  58,  76,  91,  104,  1 16,  126,  148, 
156,  169,  177,  204,  207,  209, 
2 1 8,  220,  223,  233, 242,  245,  246 ; 
the  choice  of,  246,  247;  legends 
of,  248 ;  265,  266,  267,  268,  272, 
289,  290,  297,  324,  327 
Hercules,  see  Herakles 
Hermse,  126 
Hermaphroditos,  87 
Hermapollo,  135 
Hermathene,  135 

Hermes,  Mercury,  1 8,  20,  24,  38, 
39,  63,  104,  1 18;  described, 

121;  134,  i36,  140, 144?  I52>  J53> 
162, 168, 169, 175, 183, 199,  208, 
209,  210,211,212,215,217,227, 
232,  236,  246,  294,  330,  349 
Herodotus,  1,  16,  342 
Heroes,  described,  200 
Herostratos,  115 
Herse,  236,  237 

Hesiod,  17,  22,  23,  36, 158,203,310 
Hesione,  51,  53 
Hespere,  157 
Hesperides,  156,  248 
Hesperides,  Garden  of,  156,  258 
Hesperis,  156 

Hestia,  Vesta,  24,  29,  33;  described, 

71 ;  78, 143 

Hialprek,  323 
Hilseeira,  285 


Himeros,  86,  17 1 
Himinbiorg,  312 
Hippia,  93 
Hippo,  154 

Hippodameia,  243,  244 
Hippodromes,  221 
Hippokoontides,  263 
Hippokrene,  157 
Hippolochos,  224 
Hippolyte,  256,  268 
Hippolytos,  87 
Hipponoos,  278 
Hippotes,  163 
Hjordis,  323 

Hddr,  313,  316,  317  j 

Homer,  1,  17,  22,  46,  50,  76,  81, 
158,  248 

Horse,  39,  47,  86,  128;  described, 
129  ;  161,.  184,  208 
Horatius  Codes,  308 
Horus,  347,  351 
Hresvelgr,  321 
Hrimthursen,  321 
Hrungnir,  321 
Hunding,  323 
Hunin,  314,  315 
H  unland,  324 
Hyads,  154 
Hyakinthia,  99 
Hyakinthios,  99 
Hyakinthos,  99 
Hyas,  154 

Hygiea,  Hygieia,  Hygea,  180;  de¬ 
scribed,  181;  182 
Hylseos,  137 
Hylas,  273 

Hymen,  Hymenseos,  87 ;  described, 
172 

Hyperboreans,  101,  104,  252 
Hyperion,  27,  107,  165 
Hypermnestra,  212,  213 
Hypnos,  Somnus,  194 
Hypsipyle,  273,  280 


I. 

Iceland,  20,  309,  310 
Ida,  46,  153, 178,  283,  301 
Ida  (nymph),  29 
Idas,  270,  285 


36° 


INDEX. 


Idomeneus,  286,  301 
Iduna,  319 
Ikaros,  119,  242 
Ikelos,  195 

Iliad,  46,  50,  51,  76,  83,  175,  177, 
194,  203,  276,  321,  322 
Ilion,  see  Troy 
Ilithyia,  see  Eileithyia 
Iilyrium,  227 
Imbros,  126 
Inachos,  210 

Indra,  described,  329;  330,  33 1, 

332,  334,  336,  342 
Ino,  149,  226,  272 
Inuus,  137 

Io,  48,  107,  125;  described,  210; 

214,  218 
Iobates,  213,  222 
Iolaos,  250 
Iole,  264 

Iolkos,  231,  270,  271,  272,  275 
Ion,  237  ;  legend  of,  238 
Ionians,  206 

Iphigeneia,  12,  in,  290,  292,  303 
Iphikles,  247 
Iphimedeia,  209 
Iphis,  278 

Iris,  47  ;  described,  162;  265,287 
Iron  Age,  44 
Isandros,  224 
Isfeudyar,  317 

Isis,  Mut,  344,  345,  346;  de¬ 
scribed,  350 
Ismene,  231,  277 
Ismenios,  101 
Isthmian  Games,  1 6,  220 
Isthmus  of  Corinth,  16,  54,  2 66,  275 
Itanos,  239 
Ithaka,  163,  306 
Itys,  238 

Ixion,  61,  231,  232 

J- 

Jacchos,  see  Dionysos 
Janita,  see  Dyaus 
Janus,  32;  described,  132 
Janus,  Temple  of,  184 
Japetos,  27,  207 
*  Jardanos,  239 
Jasion,  66 


Jaso,  181 

Jason,  233,  270,  271,  279 
Jokaste,  229,  230,  231,  277 
Jotunheim,  31 1,  312 
Julius  Caesar,  198 
Julius,  see  Askanios 
Juno,  see  Hera 
Junones,  49 
Jupiter,  see  Zeus 
Juventas,  see  Hebe 

K. 

Kadmilos,  Kasmilos,  126 
Kadmos,  6,  118,  149,  158;  legend 
of,  224;  228 
Kaineus,  232 
Kalais,  191 

Kalchas,  289,  290,  292 
Kali  Yuga,  337,  338 
Kalki  Avatara,  340 
Kalliope,  160,  172,  234 
Kallirrhoe,  1 54,  178 
Kalliste,  1 10 
Kallisto,  1 13 
Kalydon,  76,  269,  270 
Kalydonian  Hunt,  76,  269 
Kalydonian  Boar,  76,  Iio,  269 
Kalypso,  1 54,  306 
Kamadeva,  339 
Kapaneus,  278,  280 
Karneia,  98 
Karneios,  98 
Karpo,  129 

Kassandra,  283,  284,  297,  301, 
302 

Kassiepeia,  216 
Kastalia,  1 57 

Kastor,  227,  270,  272,  285 
Kekropia,  236 

Kekrops,  legend  of,  236,  238 
Kelaeno,  191 
Keleos,  66 
Kephalos,  166,  167 
Kepheus,  216,  217,  218,  263 
Kephissos,  15 1,  155 
Kerberos,  see  Cerberus 
Kerkyon,  266 
Keryneian  Stag,  250,  252 
Keryx,  236 
Keto,  191,  193 


INDEX. 


36r 


Khem,  344 

Khuns,  344 

Kilix,  225 

Kirke,  see  Circe 

Kithseron,  153,  229,  230,  247 

Kleitos,  166 

Kleta,  175 

Ivlio,  159 

Klotho,  185 

Ivlytaemnestra,  189,  190,  285, 

290 

Ivlytios,  43 
Knidos,  85 
Ivnosos,  239 
Koios,  27 
Kokalos,  242 

Kolchis,  191,  204,  271,  274,  275 

Kolonos,  190,  279 

Komana,  187 

Komos,  142 

Kopo,  1 01 

Kora,  see  Persephone,  63 
Koronides,  178 
Koronis,  178 
Korybantes,  34 
Kos,  43,  263 
K  ottos,  26 

Kreios,  27  . 

Kreon,  275,  279,  281,  282 
Ivreta,  see  Crete 
Kreusa,  238 
Krishna,  340 

Kromrayon,  The  Boar  of,  266 
Ivronia,  31 

Kronion,  Kronoides,  36 
Kronos,  18,  26,  27,  28;  described, 

29,  3°,  3L  32>  33 ,  39,  42,  44,  5°, 
57,60,65,  71,  189,  203,328,  346 
Kuretes,  29,  34 
Kurma,  339 
Kuvera,  339 

Ivybele,  Kybebe,  33/136,  140, 143 
Kyklopes,  22,  26,  27,  30,  106,  304, 
306 

Kyknos,  76,  108 
Kyllenios,  123 
Kypselos,  196 
Kyzikos,  273 

L. 

Labdakos,  227,  228,  229,  237 


Labyrinth,  241,  267 
Lachesis,  185 
Ladon,  156,  252 
Laertes,  287 

Laios,  229,  230.  277,  323 
Lakedannon,  270 
Lakonia,  112 
Lakshmi,  339 
Lampetia,  108 
Lampsakos,  135 
Laodamia,  224 
Laokoon,  299,  300 
Laomedon,  53,  98,  106,  262 
Lapithae,  231,  232 
Lara,  199 

Lar,  Lares,  198,  199 
Lararium,  198 
Larisa,  213,  218 
Larvae,  199 
Latona,  see  Leto 
Latium,  133,  138 
Learchos,  272 
Leda,  285 
Leimoniads,  153 

Lemnos,  79,  81,  82,  1 20,  126,  207, 
208,  273,  280,  290,  298 
Lemures,  199 
Lenaea,  120 
Lerna,  52,  21 1 
Lernaean  Hydra,  249,  250 
Lesbos,  235 
Lethe,  59 

Leto,  Latona,  39,  61,  70,  100,  104, 
107,  215 
Leukippos,  285 
Leukophryne,  1 1 6 
Leukosia,  150 

Leukothea,  described,  149;  226,  306 

Libera,  63,  69 

Libitina,  Lubentina,  65 

Libya,  21 1,  216,  225 

Lichas,  264 

Ligeia,  150 

Limnads,  154 

Limnaia,  113 

Limoniads,  1 53 

Linos,  247 

Lipara  Islands,  163 

Lips,'  164 

Litae,  189 

Loki,  316,  317,  319,  320 


3 62 


INDEX. 


Lucifer,  168 
Lucina,  49,  347 
Luna,  see  Selene 
Lupercalia,  138,  307 
Lupercus,  137 
Lutinus,  135 
Lyseos,  117 
Lydia,  144,  263 

Lykia,  Lycia,  102,  213, 221,222, 243 
Lykios,  102 
Lykomedes,  269,  288 
Lykos,  228,  229,  239 
Lykurgos,  (legislator),  1 13,  240 
Lykurgos  (king),  119,  256,  279 
Lynkeus,  212,  213,  270,  285 

M. 

Machreon,  285 
Maenads,  235 

Mahabharata,  321,  325,  336 
Maia,  39,  1 21, 140 
Manes,  199 

Marathon,  204,  255,  267 

Mars,  see  Ares 

Marspiter  (Mars  Pater),  77 

Marsyas,  106 

Maruts,  330,  334 

Mat,  346,  350 

Mater  Turrita,  34 

Matronalia,  49 

Matsya,  339 

Maiit,  345 

Mechanitis,  93 

Medea,  242,  265,  274,  275,  322, 
325 

Meditrina,  i8l 
Meditrinalia,  181 

Medusa,  52,  91,  191, 192,  215,  216, 
217,  219, 221 
M  egsera,  28,  190 
Megapenthes,  218 
Megara,  239 
Mekone,  207 
Melampos,  214 
Melamion,  278 

Meleagros,  76,  III,  269,270,272 

Melete,  158 

Melia,  210 

Melian  Nymphs,  28 

Melikertes,  149,  220,  272 

Melolosis,  1 54 


Melpomene,  159 
Memnon,  81,  167,  296 
Memphis,  343 

Menelaos,  245,  2S5,  2S6,  287,  299, 
301 

Mencetios,  288 
Menoikeus,  229,  28 1 
Mercury,  see  Hermes. 

Merope,  220 
Messene,  270 
Messenia,  99,  112 
Metageitnia,  10 1 
Methymna,  119 
Metion,  239 
Metis,  30,  39,  89,  128 
Midas,  35,  106,  136 
Midea,  244 

Midgard,  31 1,  312,  320 
Miletus,  103 
Mimir,  319 
Minerva,  see  Athene 
Minos,  62,  hi,  174,  204;  legend 
of,  240;  244,  254,  267,  269 
Minotaur,  101,241,267 
Minyae,  231,  247 
Miolnir,  334 
Mneme,  158 

Mnemosyne,  27,  39,  157,  161,  314 
Mnevis,  see  Apis,  348 
Moloch,  31,  239 
Molorchos,  249 

Moera,  Mcerse,  Parcse,  128;  de¬ 
scribed,  184;  296 
Moeragetes,  185 
Momus,  195 
Morpheus,  195 
Mors,  see  Thanatos 
Mosychlos,  80,  8l 
Mu,  346 
Munin,  314 
Munychia,  114 
Musagetes,  104,  158 
Museia,  157 

Muses,  130,  149,  150;  described, 
157;  171,  174,  175,  177,  194, 
226,  234,  235,  297 
Museums,  159 
Muspelheim,  31 1,  321 
Mut,  see  Isis 

Mykense,  210,  218,  244,  248,  251, 
254>  255,  302 


INDEX. 


363 


Myrmidons,  293 
Myrrha,  87 
Myrtilos,  244 

N. 

Nagananda,  321 
Naiads,  154 
Napsete,  153 
Naranaya,  337 
Narasingha,  340 
Narkissos,  155 
Nastrand,  312 
Nauplia,  21 1 
Nauplios,  21 1 
Nausikiia,  306 
Nausimedon,  212 
Naxos,  120,  267 
Neith,  Neitha,  345,  346 
Neleus,  53,  272 
Nemea,  249 
Nemean  Games,  16 
Nemean  Lion,  249 
Nemesia,  186 

Nemesis,  172;  described,  1S6;  189 
Neoptolemos,  288,  *97,  301 
Neph,  Num,  Nu,  Ncf,  Cnouphis, 
Cenubis,  343,  344 
Nephele,  272 
Nephthys,  347.  35 1 
Neptune,  see  Poseidon 
Nereids,  described,  146,  149, 154, 
216,  220 

Nereus,  55,  145;  described,  146; 

154,257,331  ' 

Nesaie,  147 

Nessos,  264 

Nestor,  53,  287,  301 

Neverita,  55 

Niblungs,  317,321 

Nifiheim,  311,  312 

Nike,  Victoria,  93;  described,  183 

Nile,  21 1,  345 

Niobe,  100,  229,  243 

Nisos,  239 

Ncmios,  101,  126 

Nordri,  311 

Nornen,  321 

Notos,  164,  166 

Nox,  see  Nyx 

Numa  Pompilius,  73,  78,  134 


Nutpe,  346,  347,  350 
Nykteus,  228 
Nymphaea,  153 

Nymphs,  28,  113,  137;  described, 
I5i 

Nysa,  1 18,  144 

Nyx,  Nox,  Night,  22,  70,  184,  185, 
189;  described,  193;  196 

O. 

October  horse,  78 

Odin,  31 1,  312;  described,  313; 

317,  322,  323,324,325 
Odysseus,  Ulysses,  60,  95,  149,  150, 
163,  287,  288,  290,  296-,  297, 
298,  299,  300,  301 ;  wanderings 
of,  304 

Odyssey,  59,  77, 203,  248, 276,  321, 

322 

CEchaiia,  235,  264 
GEdipos,  229,  230,  277,  279, 

282 

CEneus,  264,  269 
CEnomteos,  76,  176,  243,  244 
CEnone,  324 
(Eta,  264 
Ogres,  334 
Oiax,  212 
Oikles,  262,  278 
Oileus,  see  Ajax 
Okeanids,  146,  154,  1 74 
Okeanos,  22,  23,  27,  30,  39,  55, 
58;  described,  145;  148,  151, 
154,  162,  186,  195,  210 
Okypete,  19 1 

Olympia,  4,  6,  10,  40,  41,  48, 
128,  244 

Olympiads,  16,  42 
Olympian  Games,  16,  244 
Olympos,  6,  10,  24,  25,  30,  42,  43, 
44,  47,  7L  77,  80,  Si,  128, 
157,  158,  162,  166,  169,  174, 
176,  177, 178, 179, 188,  207,  209, 
224,  226,  231,  235, 246,  248, 296, 

33L  345 
Omphale,  263 
Oneiropompos,  122 
Oneiros,  1 95 
Onuphis,  see  Apis 
Opheltes,  279 


364 


INDEX. 


Ops,  32,  140 

Orchomenos,  174,  247 

Oreads,  25,  137,  153 

Oreithyia,  165,  238 

Orestes,  1 13, 189, 190, 290, 302, 303 

Orion,  ill,  166 

Ormu-zd,  342 

Orpheus,  58,  150,  153,  228;  legend 
of,  234;  272 
Oschophoria,  269 

Osiris,  343;  described,  347;  348, 

349,  35°>  351,  352 

Ossa,  209 

Othrys,  30 
Otos,  76,  209,  231 
Ovid,  133 

P. 

Palaemon,  149 

Palamedes,  126,  212,  288,290 

Pales,  143 

Pal  ilia,  143,  307 

Palladium,  73,  78,  95,  298,  300 

Pallantides.  266 

Pallas-Athene,  see  Athene 

Pallas,  brother  of  .<Egeus,  239,  266 

Pallas,  the  Giant,  43,  183 

Pan,  106,  13s ;  described,  136: 

138,  144,  153,  155,  344 

Panathenaea,  82,  93,  269 
Panathenaic  prize  vases,  93 
Pandareos,  191 
Pandion,  237,  239 
Pandora,  208 
Pandrosos,  236 

Panes,  Paniski,  137,  139,  141 
Panic  fear,  137 
Pan  ope,  147 
Paphos,  87 

Parcae,  128,  182,  185,269 

Paris,  87, 283, 284,  285, 286,287,324  | 

Parnassos,  44,  158,  206 

Parthenia,  48 

Parthenos,  93 

Parthenope,  150 

Parthenopaeos,  76,  278 

Pasiphae,  240,  241,  242 

Pasithea,  147,  175 

Patroklos,  203,  288,  289,  293,  295 

Paul,  St.,  1 15 

Pausanias,  42,  196 

Pax,  see  Eirene 


Pedasos,  292 

Pegasos,  52,  92, 155,  1 66,  167, 192, 
216,  221,  223 
Peirene,  220,  221 
Peirithdos,  231,  232,  268,  272 
Peitho,  Suada,  Suadela,  86,  176 
Peleus,  128, 147, 158, 187,  233,  262, 
270,  272,  283,  288 
Peliads,  153 
Pelias,  53,  271,  275 
Pelion,  153,  179,  209,  233,251 
Peloponnesos,  99,  179,  206 
Pelops,  42,  243,  244 
Pelos,  204 
Penates,  198 
Peneios,  6,  1 5 1 
Penelope,  306,  307 
Penthesilea,  295 
Pentheus,  119,  22 7 
Pephredo,  193 
Pericles,  1 
Periklymenos,  263 
Periphates,  266 
Perkunes,  Perune,  316 
Persei's,  240,  274 

Persephone,  Proserpina,  Kora,  1 8, 
57,  62;  described,  63;  65, 

67,  68,  69,  70,86,  100,  129,  149, 
170,  189,  220,  232,  234,  347,  350 
Perses,  70,  218 

Perseus,  91,  19 1,  192,  193,  204; 

legend  of,  215;  221,  246,  248 
Persians,  92,  102,  165 
Pessinus,  35 
Phaeakians,  306 
Phaedra,  241,  269 
Pha'enna,  175 
Phaestos,  240,  242 
Phaethon,  107,  108 
Phaethusa,  108 
Phantasos,  195 

Pheidias,  I,  4,  42,  48,  77,  169 
Pheme,  Fama,  188 
Pherse,  106,  262,  270 
Pherusa,  147 
Philammon,  235 
Philemon,  38 

Philoktetes,  242,  290,  298,  301 
Philomela,  237,  238 
Phineus,  191,  2 1 7,  273 
Phlius,  176,  177 


INDEX. 


365* 


Phobetor,  195 
Phobos,  76 
'  Phoebe,  285 

Phoebos,  see  Apollo 
Phoenicians,  31,  84,  239 
Phoenix,  225,  240  • 

Phokis,  302 
Pholos,  251 

Phorkys,  149,  19 1,  193 
Phoroneus,  206,  210 
Phrah,  Pharaoh,  346 
Phrixos,  272 
Picumnus,  139 
Picus,  138,  139 
Pierides,  157 
Pieria,  157,  234,  235 
Pieros,  157 
Pilumnus,  139 
Pimpla,  Pimplea,  157 
Pindar,  I,  3,  68,  174 
Pindos,  158 
Pittheus,  265 
Plataese,  204 
Plato,  1 

Pleiads,  154,  252 
Pleione,  154 
Plexaure,  154 

Pluto,  see  Hades,  and  18,  29,  33, 
149,  179,  220 
Plutos,  66,  1 31 
Podarge,  19 1 
Podarkes,  263 
Poeas,  242 
Poena,  186 
Polias,  93 

Pollux,  see  Polydeukes 
Polybos,  230 
Polybotes,  43 
Polydektes,  215,  217,  248 
Polydeukes,  Pollux,  227,  270,  272, 
273,  285 

Polydoros,  226,  227 
Polyhymnia,  Polymnia,  160 
Polyidos,  221 
Polykleitos,  48 
Polykrates,  49 

Polyneikes,  230,  277,  278,  279,  280, 
281 

Polyphemos,  52,  305,  306 
Polyphonte,  87 
Pomona,  131,  132,  139 


Pontios,  220 
Pontos,  22,  146,  218 
Porphyrion,  43 

Poseidon,  Neptune,  10,  16,  24,  29, 
33>  36,  43;  described,  50;  57, 
67,  72,  85,  89,  92,  106,  1 18,  125, 
146,  147,  148,  149,  154,  164, 
191,  192,  211,  216,  219,  220, 
222,  225,  228,  231,  233,  236, 
237,  241,  243,  244,  254,  305, 
3o6,  331 
Potamia,  113 
Potamids,  154 
Pothos,  86,  1 71 
Potiphar,  222 
Prseneste,  183 
Praxiteles,  I,  169 
Priamos,  263,  283,  301 
Priapos,  Lutinus,  135 
Prithivi,  339 
Prodikos,  246 
Proetos,  213,  214,  218,  222 
Prokne,  237,  238 
Prokris,  167 
Prokrustes,  266 

Prometheus,  81,  82,  89,  195,  204; 

described,  205;  210,  233,  262 
Proserpina,  see  Pei'sephone 
Proteus,  146 
Prymno,  154 
Psyche,  1 70,  1 7 1 
Psychopompos,  122 
Pthah,  343,  346 
Pyanepsia,  269 
Pygmalion,  86 
Pylades,  302,  303 
Pylos,  239 

Pylos,  Town  of,  123,  263,  287 
Pyrrha,  44,  206 
Pythagoras,  14 
Pythia,  102 

Pythian  Games,  16,  104 
Pythios,  104,  105 
Python,  97,  104,  105,  202 

Q. 

Quoasir,  332 

R. 

Ra,  Phra,  344,  345,  351 
Raklishasas,  331 


INDEX. 


#  366 


Ramayana,  321,  340 
Ranno,  344 
Reate,  77 
Regin,  323,  324 
Reifriesen,  321 

Reimthursen,  Rime,  or  Frost,  31 1 
Remus,  75,  77,  307 
Rerir,  322 

Rhadamanthys,  62,  240,  243,  247 
Rhamnusia,  1 86 

Rhea,  Kybele,  27,  20,  31  ;  described, 

33;  57,  65,  71,  144,  347 
Rhea  Silvia,  75 
Rhodeia,  1 54 
Rhodes,  99,  149 
Rhodope,  235 
Rhoetos,  43 
River  Gods,  15 1 
Romulus  75,  77,  134,  247,  307 

S. 

Sabseism,  346 
Sabines,  134 
Saccular  Games,  62 
Saga,  314 
Sais,  345 
Saivas,  336 
Salacia,  55 
Salamis,  54,  93,  103 
Salii,  78 
Samnites,  187 
Samos,  49,  169 
Samothrace,  126 
Saranyn,  327 
Sarapis,  see  Serapis 
Saraswati,  337 
Sarpedon,  240,  243 
Sati,  344,  345,  352 
Saturnalia,  31,  32,  199 
Saturnia,  32 

Saturnus,  18,  29;  described,  31, 

.  32;  I32,  133,  139,  r43 
Satyavrate,  339 
Satyriski,  141 

Satyrs,  described,  141 ;  144,  145, 
I52,  153 
Savitar,  332 
Scopas,  169 
Scutari,  273 
Scylla,  306 
Seb,  346,  347,  348 


Selene,  Luna,  70;  described,  109; 

165 

Selinus,  192,  219 

Semele,  39,  48,  118,  140,  149,  226, 
227 

Semnse,  see  prinys 
Serapis,  Sarapis,  350 
Seriphos,  215,  216,  217 
Servius  Tullius,  74,  114,  1 16,  178 
Seth,  347 

Seven  Wonders  of  the  Ancient 
World,  42 
Sibyl,  see  Cumaean 
Sicily,  85,  99,  143,  163,  192,  219, 
242 

Sidon,  239 
Siegfried,  248 
Siggeir,  322 
Sigi,  322 

Sigmund,  317,  322,  323 
Sigmund,  Sigfusson,  310 
Signi,  322 

Sigurd,  317,  323,  324 
Sikyon,  99,  207,  2 14,  228 
Silenos,  Sileni,  1 18,  141 ;  described, 
144 

Silvanus,  141,  142,  143 
Silver  Age,  44 
Sinis,  266 
Sinon,  300 
Sinope,  350 
Sintians,  79 

Sirens,  described,  1 50;  306 
Sirius,  hi 

Sisyphos,  6 1 ;  described,  219 
Siva,  Mahadeva,  3365  described, 
339 

Skirnir,  317 
Skyros,  288,  298 
Sleipnir,  312 
Smyrna,  1 86 
Socrates,  I,  17,  180 
Sol,  see  Helios 
Solymi,  223 
Soma,  332,  334 
Somnus-,  see  Iiypnos 
Sophocles,  1,  231,  325 
Soteira,  93 

Sparta,  87,  98,  99,  113,  157,  169, 
174,  245,  284,  285 
Spartae,  226,  227 


INDEX. 


36  7 


Sphinx,  230;  (Egyptian),  352 
Steropes,  27 
Stheino,  19 1 
Stheneboea,  213,  222 
Sthenelos,  246 
Strymon,  234 

Stymphalian  Birds,  250,  252 

Stymphalos,  252 

Styx,  58,  107,  162,  183 

Suada,  Suadela,  see  Peitho 

Sudri,  31 1 

Sulla,  103 

Surtr,  321 

Surya,  331 

Sybaris,  99 

Symplegades,  274 

Syrinx,  136 

T. 

Talos,  239,  242 
Tantalos,  6 1,  229,  243 
Tarentum,  99 
Tarquin,  103 
Tarsos,  218 

Tartaros,  1 8,  25,  30,  60,  70,  87, 
I45>  19 3>  *94>  I96>  213,  232, 
243 

Tauric  Artemis,  113 
Tauros,  190,  290,  302 
Taygete,  252 
Tegea,  77 
Teiresias,  60,  306 
Telamon,  262,  295 
Teleia,  Teleios,  48 
Telemachos,  287,  306 
Telephassa,  225 
Telephos,  2S9,  290,  298 
Telesphoros,  181 
Telesto,  154 
Tempe,  6,  52,  231 
Tenedos,  149,  300 
Tereus,  237,  238 
Terminalia,  135 
Terminus,  134 
Terpsichore,  161 
Terra,  see  Gaea 

Tethys,  23,  27,  55;  described,  145. 

Teutamias,  21S 
Thalassios,  173 


Thalia,  159,  174 
Thallo,  129  ' 

Thamyris,  235 

Thanatos,  Mors,  194,  196,  197 

Thargelia,  100 

Thargelios,  100 

Thaos,  120 

Thaumas,  162,  19 1 

ThebaVs,  276 

Thebe,  228 

Thebes,  6,  76,  77,  ior,  113,  118, 
1 19,  128,  167,  224;  legends  of, 
224,  247,  263  _ 

Thebes,  War  against,  277 
Thebes,  Destruction  of,  282 
Theia,  27,  165 

Themis,  27,  39,  105  ;  described, 
127;  129,  131,  1S5,  283 
Themistocles,  103 
Theophane,  52. 

Theophania,  104 
Theoxenia,  104 
Thersites,  296 
Theseium,  269 

Theseus,  54,  91,  93,  176,204,223, 
232,  239,  241,  245  ;  legend  of, 
265,  270,  272,  275,  279,  286, 
322 

Thesmophoria,  67 
Thesmophoros,  67 
Thespioe,  169,  247 
Thespios,  247 

Thessaly,  24,  30,  52,  66,  106,  206, 
21 7  > 'legends  of,  231 
Thetis,  24,  47,  80,  128,  147,  153, 
158,  243,  283,  288,  294,  296 
Thiassi,  321 
Tho'e,  1 47 

Thor  Donar,  312,  313;  described, 

3X5»  32I>  33°’  334 

Thoth,  347,  352 

Thrace,  144,  225;  legends  of,  233; 

255 

Thucydides,  I 
Thyene,  155 
Thyestes,  244,  245,  30 1 
Tiryns,  213,  218 
Tisiphone,  28,  190 
Titsea,  156 

Titans,  22,  25,  26,  28,  33,  42,  50, 

I37>  x45>  2°°?  23l 


36S 


INDEX. 


Tithonos,  166,  167,  296 
Tityos,  6 1, *202 
Triformis,  71 
Trimurti,  336 
Trinakia,  107,  306 
Triptolemos,  66 
Tritogeneia,  Tritonia,  88,  89 
Triton,  described,  148;  1 50 
Tritonis,  89 
Trivia,  71 

Troezene,  128,  157,  265 
Troilos,  291 
Trollweiber,  321 
Tros,  178 

Troy,  Ilion,  91,  95,  106,  III,  178, 
204,  245 ;  war  of,  283 
Tyche,  Fortuna.  182,  185 
Tydeus,  277,  280,  296 
Tyndareus,  263,  286 
Typho,  343,  348 

Typhon,  Typhoeus,  164,  249,  351, 
352 

Tyr,  Ziu,  313,  318,  332 

U. 

Ullr,  313,  319 

Ulysses,  see  Odysseus 
Urania,  85,  87,  127,  1 60 
Uranos,  18,  22 ;  described,  26 ;  27, 
28,  29,  33,  43,  85,  127,  145,  158, 
168,  328 

Ushas,  319,  335,  346 

V. 

Vaishnavas,  338 
Valaskialf,  312 
Vali,  313 
Valley rien,  32 1 
Varuha,  339 

Varuna,  328,  329,  332,  334 

Vayu,  334,  336 

Ve,  313 

Vedas,  9,  337 

Vedism,  327 

Veneralia,  87 

Venilia,  55 

Venus,  see  Aphrodite 

Vertumnus,  1 31,  132 

Vesta,  see  Hestia 

Vestal  ia,  75 

"Vestal  Virgins,  73 


Victoria,  see  Nike 
Vikings,  309 
Vingolf,  312 

Vishnu,  316,  332,  334;  described, 

338 

Vithar,  313,319 
Volsungs,  317,  321,  322 
Volsung  Saga,  324,  325 
Vritra,33i,  332,  342 
Vulcanalia,  83 

W. 

Walhalla,  312,  314 
We,  31 1 
Wetgam,  332 
Westri,  31 1 
Wili,  31 1 
Wind  Gods,  164 
Winds,  Tower  of,  165 
Wodan,  Wuotan,  313,  343 

X. 

Xenophon,  1 
Xuthos,  238 

Y. 

Yggdrasil,  312,  319 
Ymir,  31 1 

Z. 

Zendavesta,  31 1 

Zephyros,  99,  131,  164,  165,  166 
Zetes,  191,  272 
Zethos,  227,  228,  229,  247 
Zeus,  Jupiter,  2,  4,  10,  14,  16,  17, 
18,  24,  26,  27,  28,  29,  30,  33,  34, 
described,  35-45  ;  46,  47,  48,  50, 
5i,  53,  56,57*  58,  63,72,  75,  76, 
77,  79,  80,  81,  82,  85,  88,  91, 
93,  101,  104,  106,  107,  108, 

1 13,  1 18, 121,  122,  123,  124,  125, 
128,  129,  130,  131,  136,  147, 
148,  149,  153,  154,  155,  157, 
158,  162,  164,  166, 168,  176,  177, 
178,  179, 180,  182,  183,  184,  185, 
186,  188,  189,  190,  197,  202,  203, 
206,  207,  208,  210,  212, 214,  215, 
218,  219,  220,  224,  226,  227, 228, 
232,235,236,239  240,241,242, 
244,  246,  247,  249,  255,  313,  314, 
315,  328,  329,  343 
Zeuxis,  1 
Ziu,  see  Tyr 
Zygia,  48 


ANOTHER •  GREAT  HISTORICAL  WORK 


By  Prof.  Dr,  ERNST  CURTIUS. 


Translated  b>  ADOLPHUS  WILLIAM  WARD,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  St.  Peter’s 
College,  Cambridge,  Prof,  of  History  in  Owen’s  College,  Manchester. 

Completed  in  five  vols.,  crown  8vo ,  at  $2. SO  per  volume. 

Printed  upon  Tinted  Paper,  Uniform  with  Mommsen’s  History  of  Rome,  and  thk 
Library  Edition  of  Froude’s  History  of  England. 


Curtius’  History  of  Greece  is  similar  in  plan  and  purpose  to  Mommsen’s  H is  tot  /  of 
Rome,  with  which  it  deserves  tc  rank  in  every  respect  as  one  of  the  great  masterpieces  of 
historical  literature.  Avoiding  the  minute  details  which  overburden  other  similar  works, 
it  groups  together  in  a  very  picturesque  manner  all  the  important  events  in  the  history  of 
this  kingdom,  which  has  exercised  such  a  wonderful  influence  upon  the  world’s  civilization. 
The  narrative  of  Prof.  Curtius’  work  is  flowing  and  animated,  and  the  generalizations, 
although  bold,  are  philosophical  and  sound. 


CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

“Professor  Curtius’  eminent  scholarship  is  a  sufficent  guarantee  for  the  trustworthiness  of 
his  history,  while  the  skill  with  which  he  groups  his  facts,  and  his  effective  mode  of  narrating 
them,  combine  to  render  it  no  less  readable  than  sound.  Professor  Curtius  everywhere  main¬ 
tains  the  true  dignity  and  impartiality  of  history,  and  it  is  evident  his  sympathies  are  on 
the  side  of  justice,  humanity,  and  progress.” — London  Athenceum. 

“We  can  not  express  our  opinion  of  Dr.  Curtius’  book  better  than  by  saying  that  it  may 
be  fidy  ranked  with  Theodor  Mommsen’s  great  work.” — Lotidon  Spectator. 

“As  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  Grecian  history,  no  previous  work  is  comparable  to 
the  present  for  vivacity  and  picturesque  beauty,  while  in  sound  learning  and  accuracy  of 
statement  it  is  not  inferior  to  the  elaborate  productions  which  enrich  the  literature  of  the 
age.” — N.  Y.  Daily  Tribune. 

“  The  History  of  Greece  is  treated  by  Dr.  Curtius  so  broadly  and  freely  in  the  spirit  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  that  it  becomes  in  hi:?  hands  one  of  the  worthiest  and  most  instructive 
branches  of  study  for  all  who  desire  something  more  than  a  knowledge  of  isolated  facts  for 
their  education.  This  translation  ought  to  become  a  regular  part  ol  the  accepted  course 
of  reading  for  young  men  at  college,  and  /or  all  who  are  in  training  for  the  free  political 
life  of  our  country.” — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

This  book  sent  post  paid,  upon  receipt  of  the  price,  by  the  Publishers, 

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An  Important  Historical  Series, 


EPOCHS  OF  HISTORY. 

EDITED  BY 

EDWARD  E.  MORRIS,  M.A., 

Of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford- 

Head  Master  of  the  Bedfordshire  Middie-Class  Public  School,  &c. 


Each  1  vol.  16mo.  with  Outline  Maps.  Price  per  volume,  in  cloth,  $1.00, 

HISTORIES  of  countries  are  rapidly  becoming  so  numerous  that  it  is  almost  impos¬ 
sible  for  the  most  industrious  student  to  keep  pace  with  them.  Such  works  are, 
of  course,  still  less  likely  to  be  mastered  by  those  of  limited  leisure.  It  is  to  meet  the 
wants  of  this  very  numerous  class  of  readers  that  the  Epochs  of  History  has  been 
projected.  The  series  will  comprise  a  number  of  compact,  handsomely  printed  man- 
I  uals,  prepared  by  thoroughly  competent  hands,  each  volume  complete  in  itself,  and 
sketching  succintly  the  most  important  epochs  in  the  world’s  history,  always  making 
the  history  of  a  nation  subordinate  to  this  more  general  idea.  No  attempt  will  lx 
made  to  recount  all  the  events  of  any  given  period.  The  aim  will  be  to  bring  out  in 
the  clearest  light  the  salient  incidents  and  features  of  each  epoch.  Special  attention 
will  be  paid  to  the  literature,  manners,  state  of  knowledge,  and  all  those  character¬ 
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science  has  lately  been  popularized.  TJiose  who  have  been  discouraged  from  attempt¬ 
ing  more  ambitious  works  because  of  their  magnitude,  will  naturally  turn  to  these 
Epochs  of  History  to  get  a  general  knowledge  of  any  period  ;  students  may  use 
them  to  great  advantage  in  refreshing  their  memories  and  in  keeping  the  true  per¬ 
spective  of  events,  and  in  schools  they  will  be  of  immense  service  as  text  books, — a 
point  which  shall  be  kept  constantly  in  view  in  their  preparation. 

THE  FOLLOWING  VOLUMES  ARE  NOW  READY: 

The  ERA  of  the  PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION.  By  F.  Seebohm,  Author 
of  “The  Oxford  Reformers — Colet,  Erasmus,  More.’’ 

The  CRUSADES.  By  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox,  M.A.,  Author  of  the  “History  o» 
Greece.” 

The  THIRTY  YEARS’  WAR,  I618 — 1648.  By  Samuel  Rawson  Gardiner. 

Ther  of  LANCASTER  and  YORK;  with  the  CONQUEST  and 

LOSS  of  FRANCE.  By  James  Gairdnek,  of  the  Public  Record  Office. 

^  Copies  sent  post-paid ,  071  receipt  0/  price ,  by  the  Publishers. 


u 


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the 

BRIC-A-BRAC  SERIES. 

Personal  Reminiscences  of  Famous  Poets  and  Novelists,  Wits  and 
Humorists,  Artists,  Actors,  Musicians,  and  the  like. 

EDITED  BY 

RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


- » 

The  volumes  already  issued  have  insured  the  Bric-a-Brac  Series  wide  and  permanent 
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ANECDOTE  BIOGRAPHIES  OF  THACKERAY  AND  DICKENS. 

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YOUNG. 

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C^INBURGH  REVIEW.  —  “The  BEST  History  of  the  Roman  Republic.* 

LONDON  TIMES. -“BY  FAR  THE  BEST  History  of  the  Decline  and  la 
of  the  Roman  Commonwealth.” 

■■  ■  » 

THE 

of  Home, 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIME  TO  THE  PERIOD  OF  ITS  DECLINE. 

By  Dr.  THEODOB  MOMMSEN. 

translated,  with  the  author’s  sanction  and  additions,  by  the  Rev  W.  P.  Dickson,  Regim 
Professor  of  Biblical  Criticism  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  late  Classical  Examiner  in 
ti'e  University  of  St.  Andrews.  With  an  Introduction  by  Dr.  Leonhard  Schmitz,  and 
a  copious  Index  of  the  whole  four  volumes,  prepared  especially  for  this  edition. 

REPRINTED  FROM  THE  REVISED  LONDON  EDITION 

ffour  Volumes  crown  8vo.  Price  per  volume,  $2,00. 

- 

Dr.  Mommsen  has  long  been  known  and  appreciated  through  his  researches 
into  the  languages,  laws,  and  institutions  of  Ancient  Rome  and  Italy,  as 
the  most  thoroughly  versed  scholar  now  living  in  these  departments  of  his¬ 
torical  investigation.  To  a  wonderfully  exa6t  and  exhaustive  knowledge  of 
these  subjects,  he  unites  great  powers  of  generalization,  a  vigorous,  spirited, 
iind  exceedingly  graphic  style  and  keen  analytical  powers,  which  give  this 
history  a  degree  of  interest  and  a  permanent  value  possessed  by  no  other 
record  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth.  “  Dr. 
Mommsen’s  work,”  as  Dr.  Schmitz  remarks  in  the  introduction,  “  though 
the  production  of  a  man  of  most  profound  and  extensive  learning  and 
knowledge  of  the  world,  is  not  as  much  designed  for  the  professional 
scholar  as  for  intelligent  readers  of  all  classes  who  take  an  interest  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  by-gone  ages,  and  are  inclined  there  to  seek  information  that  may 
guide  them  safely  through  the  perplexing  mazes  of  modern  history.” 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

“  4  work  of  the  very-  highest  merit ;  its  learning  is  exact  and  profound  ;  its  narrative  full 
of  genius  and  skill  ,  its  descriptions  of  men  are  admirably  vivid.  We  wish  to  place  on 
record  our  opinion  that  Dr.  Mommsen’s  is  by  far  the  best  history  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Commonwealth.” — London  Times. 

‘‘  Since  the  days  of  Niebuhr,  no  work  on  Roman  History  has  appeared  that  combines  so 
much  to  attract,  instruct,  and  charm  the  reader.  Its  style — a  rare  quality  in  a  German  au¬ 
thor — is  vigorous,  spirited,  and  animated.  Professor  Mommsen’s  work  can  stand  a  com¬ 
parison  with  the  noblest  productions  of  modern  history.” — Dr.  Schmitz. 

'‘This  is  the  best  history- of  the  Roman  Republic,  taking  the  work  on  the  whole — th« 
•uthor’s  complete  mastery  of  his  subject,  the  variety  of  his  gifts  and  acquirements,  hi» 
graphic  power  in  the  delineation  of  national  and  individual  character,  and  the  vivid  interest 
which  he  inspires  in  every  portion  of  his  book.  He  is  without  an  equal  in  his  own  spheres." 
^Edinburgh  Review. 

"  A  book  of  deepest  interest.” — Dean  Trench. 


i!!*  '  •!'#  if  !!■ 


